PERFORMANCE MENU
ISSUE 108 . JANUARY 2014
JOURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE
DAILY PREPARATION
WILLPOWER
YOUTH WEIGHTLIFTING
STRONGMAN
MUSCLE SORENESS
PALEO CODE: BOOK EXCERPT
The Performance Menu is published monthly in digital format by
Catalyst Athletics, Inc.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions to the Performance Menu are available at
www.performancemenu.com/subscribe/
On the Cover
Heather Snethen
Editor in Chief
Greg Everett
Managing Editor
Yael Grauer
Design
Greg Everett
Issue Layout
Alyssa Sulay
Catalyst Athletics, Inc.
1257 Tasman Drive.
Suite A
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
408-400-0067
catalystathletics.com
Back Issues
Purchase back issues at www.performancemenu.com/issues/
Individual Articles
Individual articles from the Performance Menu can be purchased
online at www.performancemenu.com/articles/
Copyright Notice
All content copyright Catalyst Athletics, Inc and its respective authors. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited by law.
Excerpts
Catalyst Athletics authorizes the publication of brief excerpts (500
words or less) along with easily visible attribution to the author and
The Performance Menu. Attributions for online excerpts must include
a hyperlink to www.performancemenu.com, optionally but preferably
directly to the article excerpted.
Disclaimers
The statements and comments in the Performance Menu are those
of the authors and not of the Performance Menu or Catalyst Athletics, Inc. Catalyst Athletics, Inc. and its contributors do not make any
claim or warranty regarding the safety of any exercise or nutrition
information contained herein. Readers are encouraged to consult
with their physicians before engaging in any physical activity or nutritional practices. The appearance of advertising in this publication
is not necessarily an endorsement of the products or services being
advertised.
PERFORMANCE MENU
Volume 10 . Issue 108 . January 2014
JOURNAL OF HEALTH & ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE
FEATURES
REGULARS
7 Daily Preparation: your
checklist for good training
4 ASK GREG
Greg Everett
Greg answers questions about
getting dizzy after power cleans and
different lift variations for athletes.
Matt Foreman
11 WILLPOWER
Chris Garay
14 PROGRAMMING AND
PROGRESSIONS FOR YOUTH
WEIGHTLIFTING: BUILDING
WEIGHTLIFTING’S FUTURE
34 COOKING WITH SCOTTY
17 Being A Smartman in
Strongman
37 weightlifting News
Scott Hagnas
Basic Meal Template; Spicy Veggie Soup;
Chestnut, Apple and Carrot Saute.
Erik Blekeberg
Greg Everett
Kyle J. Smith
21 True of False: Muscle
Soreness Means You’re Getting
Stronger
Beth Skwarecki
24 Why Paleo? From Cave To
Chronic Illness
Chris Kresser
READ THIS ISSUE ON THE WEB!
Don’t forget you can read the articles from this issue on your desktop computer at performancemenu.com,
read on your mobile device at m.performancemenu.com, and even send articles to your Kindle from
performancemenu.com!
KEEP UP WITH CATALYST ATHLETICS!
Like us on
Facebook
Follow us
on Twitter
Subscribe to
our channel
Subscribe to
our Newsletter
ASK GREG
Want your question answered by Greg Everett? Send your email to [email protected].
YS Asks: Just wanted to ask, I keep getting dizzy after
doing power cleans. I’m currently on starting strength
and train fasted just before lunchtime. (I intermittent
fast until after the workout). Everytime I’m at the end
of third sets of 3 rep 60kg power cleans and right after
I put the bar down, I feel dizzy and lightheaded and
nearly pass-out/faint. I do have low blood pressure
(105/60 for a 75kg guy who’s 6 feet tall). This doesn’t
seem to affect me at all in any other lifts. Any help/
recommendations you could give would be much
appreciated as I really don’t wanna be like that guy in
the youtube video who deadlifts and then takes a step
and falls over and bashes his head on the weights.
Thanks.
Greg Says: Right off the bat, I would suggest not
doing intermittent fasting and not training fasted and
see what happens. At 6’ tall and 75 kg, I can’t imagine
you need to get leaner—and if you’re doing Starting
Strength, you need to be eating adequately. That’s not
impossible with IF, but it’s difficult and I have seen very
few people actually able to do it. You may also need
to experiment with adding more salt to your diet.
It does seem odd that it only happens with your power
cleans and not, for example, after tough sets of 5 in
the back squat, so that suggests it’s more mechanical
than food or hydration related. Two things to check
and possibly change:
1. Is your clean rack position correct? Are you
elevating your shoulders slightly to keep the bar from
compressing your carotid arteries? Are you keeping
your head up rather than nodding forward?
2. Are you holding your breath for the entire set of 3
reps? If so, you need to reset and breathe between
reps.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
Try those fixes and if the problem persists, I would
suggest talking to some manner of medical professional
and getting some bloodwork and the like.
Bo Asks: My question is about the use of different lift
variations with team sports athletes. The majority of
my athletes have no intent to compete in the sport of
Weightlifting, so the approach to training is somewhat
different. I want to use the variations that are easiest to
learn yet effective enough to accomplish the training
objective of developing more power. With that said, I’m wondering what your thoughts are
about using hang clean pulls and hang snatch pulls in
place of hang power cleans and hang power snatches.
I have found that many athletes struggle with the catch
positions, especially those with wrist or shoulder
problems. Do you think that this simplification of the
lifts is too much, or do you think that it is reasonable?
Any comments/suggestions would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks.
Greg Says: I do think that as a last resort snatch or clean
pulls can work, but you’re really losing a lot of what
the Olympic lifts have to offer. Yes, they’re relatively
quick, but I would say they fall short of explosive,
and you’re losing the athleticism of the barbell-body
relationship and one of the big overlooked benefits of
training to absorb impact effectively.
I generally suggest teaching the hang power clean
first as it’s the most accessible to the most athletes
yet still can provide a great deal of benefit. Yes, you
will have athletes with horrendous inflexibility that
prevents them from racking a clean well, and you
may have to modify their work to pulls instead, but
4
because they should typically represent the minority, I
wouldn’t hold back their teammates because of their
limitations.
It’s also very doable to improve those athletes’
flexibility for the rack position. First, experiment
with various grip widths—sometimes you can get
shocking improvement in position and comfort with a
minor change in hand spacing or in just teaching the
athlete the proper position when he/she has formerly
misunderstood what they’re supposed to be doing.
In conversations with Ethan Reeve, strength coach
at Wake Forest, we have discussed how his athletes
all do cleans and front squats—that’s the foundation
of his strength program. No doubt he has athletes
come through who he has to make alterations for,
but he sees how valuable those movements are and
consequently finds ways to make them work.
Athletes who have pre-existing wrist or shoulder
problems of course need modifications to their
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
training programs while those conditions heal, just like
for any kind of training. But again, I would discourage
modifying everyone’s training because of the problems
of a few athletes.
My last book, Olympic Weightlifting for Sports, is
exactly for this population—I tried to simplify and
make the lifts and variations as accessible as possible
and help coaches and athletes determine what to use
when, because very often, the full lifts are neither
necessary nor even the most beneficial.
Joe Kenn’s book Push, Jump, Punch is also a great
manual for the power clean specifically for the nonweightlifter athlete.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Greg Everett is the owner of Catalyst Athletics, publisher of
The Performance Menu and author of Olympic Weightlifting: A
Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches.
5
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
6
MATT FOREMAN
Daily Preparation:
your checklist for
good training
There’s a huge social injustice going on, and I have
to speak out against it. This is gonna be kind of like
when John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath.
He traveled around California during the 1930s and
saw how migrant farm workers were getting royally
screwed by the system, so he wrote a 700-page book
about it as fast as he could because he wanted to
protest their circumstances. The nation was freaked
out and everybody went into a major tizzy when they
read it, too. This article will basically be a repeat of
that situation; with some small differences… like my
subject isn’t anywhere near as serious and almost
nobody will care about it except strength athletes.
plain wrong. It’s unfair. We deserve to be compensated
for our hard work. The world owes us a living.
You want to know what I’m so enraged about? Okay,
here it is. I’m pissed as hell that nobody will pay me
to lift weights. There, I said it. I’ve been a weightlifter
for over two decades, and not once has anybody
ever offered to give me a full-time salary with benefits
for working out. I’m not asking for much, people. I
would be happy with around $75,000 per year, plus
medical insurance and a retirement pension. No big
deal. Just give me the money and let me spend all my
time training.
Almost all of us have to incorporate our training into
our professional lives, and that means our jobs have
demands and expectations that we have to meet on a
daily basis. What we’re going to look at in this article
is the issue of “daily preparation.” I’m talking about all
the things you have to do (and NOT do) throughout
the day that will put you in the best possible shape
to train at the end of the day. Obviously, you’re a
diverse crowd and I understand that many of you
have different types of jobs. Some of you might be
self-employed and you can set your own hours, and
some of you might work from home. But most of you
probably have some kind of eight-hours-a-day job
where your workouts come at 5:00-6:00pm, after you
get off work.
I’m not just talking about myself, brothers and sisters.
I’m talking about ALL OF US. Somebody needs to
pay us to work out, damn it! I don’t care if it’s the
government, Bill Gates, the IRS or Colonel Sanders.
Whoever wants to fork over the dough is fine with
me. Just make sure we get our paychecks every two
weeks, and then let us train for a living. The fact that
nobody is financially helping us out is wrong…just
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
But you know what? I don’t think it’s going to happen.
We’re probably going to have to keep doing what we’re
doing right now…working for a living and training on
the side. Many of us feel like our lifting is “what we
do for a living” because we center our whole lives
around it. Still, nobody is going to pay our bills and
let us focus completely on our workouts. It might be a
possibility if we were Olympic-level competitors and
we lived in the right European/Asian country, but most
of us aren’t in that bracket.
If you want to be a successful strength athlete,
you have to focus on little details. Neglecting them
will destroy your career. Weightlifting, powerlifting,
7
strongman, etc. are all “lifestyle” activities. You have
to arrange your whole life in a particular way if you
ever want to move from “casual recreational” level
to “maniac ass kicker” level. Trust me, everything
you do throughout your day is going to affect (either
positively or negatively) how you feel when you get to
the gym and put your hands on the barbell. It would
be easy to manage this if somebody paid you a fulltime salary to lift weights because you wouldn’t have
anything else to worry about. But when you have to
work for a living, it gets challenging. That’s why we’re
going to put together as many thoughts as possible
about the best things you can do to make sure your
daily preparation is effective.
ORGANIZATION!
This article isn’t going to be a smooth, flowing analysis.
It’s going to be a choppy list of different factors you
need to address for proper daily workout preparation.
You should read this like a checklist, because that’s
exactly what it is. I’m a big believer in checklists. I
think there are times when you need abstract thought,
and there are times when you need rigid organization.
For this topic, it probably behooves you to lean more
towards organization. I’m also going to throw in a lot
of my own opinions based on experience, because I
personally learn a lot when other people tell me what
works for them and I have a feeling many of you are
the same. So let’s get started:
Workout time: Some people train well in the early
morning. I’m not one of them. It has nothing to do with
having the discipline to get up early or whether I get
enough sleep the night before. My body just doesn’t
feel like it’s primed to lift big weights at 5:00am, or even
at 8:00am. If my workouts were just bodybuilding-style
stuff like presses and curls with some cardio thrown
in, early morning training would probably be fine.
But when we’re talking about the Olympic lifts, it’s a
different story. The O-lifts demand a much different
level of speed, flexibility, and alertness than lat pulls or
jogging. I’ve personally found early to midafternoon to
be the best training time. Age has a lot to do with this,
too. When you’re young, early morning training will be
a little easier and you probably won’t notice much of a
problem. But as you start to get older, your body just
needs a lot longer to warm up. This is what I’ve found
to be true, and there are obviously going to be a lot if
individual differences from athlete to athlete.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
Warm-up: When I was younger, I used to think the
best way to prepare for training was to do absolutely
no physical activity throughout the day leading up to
my workout. I didn’t want to exert myself at all before
I hit the gym, thinking it would be a waste of energy. I
wish I would have known differently, because having
some general movement and activity early in the day
is essential for good training. Your joints and muscles
need to get loosened up and active at least a few
hours before you start your actual workout session.
This doesn’t need to be a ton of work, and it won’t tire
you out if you do it correctly. I’m talking about some
basic dynamic exercises…arm circles, toe touches, air
squats, torso twists, or maybe some low-impact total
body movements like jumping jacks or bear crawls.
Five to 10 minutes of this stuff can do the trick, maybe
even a couple of times spaced throughout the early
and mid-day. You don’t want your workout to be the
first time your joints have moved all day. This is why it
can be a positive thing if you’ve got a job that allows
you to move around a little. Things like walking up
and down a staircase (warming up the lower body)
or stocking shelves (warming up the upper body) can
serve this purpose. What you absolutely DON’T want
is sitting in a chair for eight straight hours prior to
training. If you’ve got a cubicle-type job that demands
this, try to figure out ways to stand up and move
around for at least a few minutes each hour. Go to
the bathroom and do air squats in the toilet stall or
something. Your lower back will feel as stiff as a coffin
nail after a long day of sitting on your ass.
Time on your feet: We just said you don’t want to sit
in a chair all day prior to training, right? Well, you also
don’t want to be on your feet all day. You want some
activity throughout the day, but not a six-hour stretch
of standing. The best combination is a mix of these
two, and moving around when you’re on your feet is
always better than standing still in the same place.
When you’re immobile, all of the bodyweight above
your waist is sitting right on your lower back and the
blood in your body is pooling down to your feet. At the
end of a long day of this, you’ll feel it. If you absolutely
have to do this because your job requires it, I would
recommend getting off your feet (and elevating them)
for at least 30 minutes prior to training if it’s possible.
I also think this is a bigger problem for heavier lifters.
I’ve competed at 198 lbs. bodyweight, and I’ve also
competed at 280. Without a doubt, the effects of
spending all day on your feet are worse when you’re
supporting a lot of mass.
8
Eating: I’ve tried lots of different things over the years
in this area. Eating right before training, not eating
for three hours prior, eating fruit before workouts,
eating candy bars before workouts, etc. Since I think
this part is probably the one that’s most dependent
on individual preference, I’ll just tell you my personal
findings. I don’t train well when I feel bloated, so I like to
eat three to four hours prior to lifting. If I have anything
in the last hour before I start, it’ll be something small
with a little sugar in it (apple, candy bar, Clif bar). I’ve
found it doesn’t really matter what I eat before training
as long as my nutrition in the days before has been
solid. In other words, it works like this…if I spend
three days eating like crap and then I eat something
healthy on a heavy training day, I’ll probably still feel
lousy. If I spend three days eating really healthy and
then I eat something crappy on training day, I’ll still
feel okay. Make sense? The only caveat is that you
can’t eat something prior to workout that’s going to
upset your stomach. It’s hard to train well when you
have to repeatedly run to the bathroom for explosive
diarrhea.
Caffeine: We just covered eating, so how about
drinking? Listen, some people go haywire with the
caffeine. I’ve trained with lifters that practically embalm
themselves with the stuff before they train. It’s not like
there aren’t plenty of sources these days, you know?
You can stop by any gas station and head for the
Liquid Crank section where you’ve got an assortment
of Red Bull, Monster, Five-Hour Energy, and trucker
pills looking you right in the face. Personally, I’ve
never gone too far with this stuff because I don’t like
the idea of relying on something to the point where I
can’t be effective if I don’t have it. Years ago I trained
with a lifter who made the World Team, and he was a
coffee addict. When he got to the worlds, he couldn’t
get any before the competition. He bombed out. That
sucks. When you depend on things so strongly that
you get paralyzed without them, it’s bad.
Stress: Man, this one is a doozy. Stress is a funny
thing because it reveals a lot about your personality.
Some people just don’t feel it very much. Have you
noticed that? They have what I like to call “old hippie
syndrome.” They just stay mellow and go with the
flow, man. Anxiety isn’t a big part of their lives because
they’re connected with the universe, or whatever. For
these people, life is going to feel a lot easier. Seriously,
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
think about what it would be like if you simply never
worried about anything. Most of us aren’t like that.
We’ve got more intensity in our personalities, which
is probably one of the reasons we like weightlifting
so much. When things stress us out, we get pissed
and tense. We’ve got high expectations for ourselves
in everything we do: our jobs, our training, our family
commitments, etc. We expect a lot out of ourselves.
When obstacles get in our way, we feel it inside. Now,
this is where we learn about levels. Some people have
a high stress management level, which means they’re
going to feel the worry and anxiety but they handle it
pretty easily. Nothing wrecks them, and they can make
it to the end of the day without any borderline-heartattack moments. These are the people who usually
make the best weightlifters. And then you’ve got the
panic junkies. These are the people with low stress
management levels, and it’s a wonder they even make
it through their lives. When difficulties pop up, they go
into a catatonic state of fear, anger, and distress. By
the time they get to the gym, they’re like sponges that
have been squeezed completely dry. There’s nothing
left inside to get them through a hard training session.
I guess these people probably just don’t make it for
the long haul. If they can’t figure out how to manage
their anxiety better, weightlifting probably isn’t going
to work out for them.
And then sometimes, none of this
matters…
You want to know the funniest part of this whole
discussion? It’s the fact that there are occasional
times when these factors have almost no impact on
your training. Here’s what I mean, and I’ll bet you can
probably relate to this.
You’ll have times when you manage all of these factors
perfectly, and then you still lift like crap. Know what I
mean? These are situations where you put yourself in
an absolutely perfect position to train well by handling
your daily preparation effectively. You do everything
you can think of to make sure you show up to the
gym feeling physically and mentally fresh and ready,
and then you still have a bad day. This is maddening
because it doesn’t make any sense. You have a lousy
workout, and you go back through everything and try
to find the cause. Nothing clicks, because you did
everything right and you still sucked a fat one.
9
Then… (you know what I’m gonna say next) there will
also be occasional situations where almost everything
goes wrong leading up to your workout, and you still
set the world on fire and have a great day. Ever had
one of these? I’m talking about times when you’ve
had little sleep, poor nutrition, too much hustle-bustle
at work, etc., and you still feel great in the gym. You
kick ass, even though there’s almost no reason why
you should. This is freaky. You try to figure it out, and
it just doesn’t compute.
Listen, these two scenarios I just listed are examples
of exceptions. Sometimes, this is just how it goes. All
the rules get thrown out the window and the universe
makes strange things happen. You prepare perfectly,
and you still suck. Or you prepare like crap, and you
still kick ass. You want to figure out how it works?
Listen, I’ve been trying to figure it out for over twenty
years and I’m a pretty smart guy, and I still have times
when I just have to shrug my shoulders and admit that
some situations don’t always follow standard logic.
Two plus two doesn’t always equal four in this sport.
Occasionally, your lifting will be great (or terrible), and
there isn’t a concrete cause.
However, and this is the main point of the whole
thing, these situations are exceptions. Most of the
time, proper daily preparation will lead to successful
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
training. The weird scenarios we just described are
going to pop up from time to time, but you don’t want
to plan your life according to rare freak occurrences.
You want to plan your life according to what works
most often. Controlling the things on this checklist will
have a high success percentage. You’ll usually feel
pretty good in the gym if you manage them the right
way. Will there be strange glitches every now and then?
Sure. But that shouldn’t make you think organization
doesn’t matter. It does. And since nobody is going to
pay you a full-time salary to devote your whole day
to training, you’d better sharpen this area up. Best of
luck, brothers and sisters.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Matt Foreman is the football and track & field coach at Mountain
View High School in Phoenix, AZ. A competitive weightliter for
twenty years, Foreman is a four-time National Championship
bronze medalist, two-time American Open silver medalist,
three-time American Open bronze medalist, two-time National
Collegiate Champion, 2004 US Olympic Trials competitor, 2000
World University Championship Team USA competitor, and
Arizona and Washington state record-holder. He was also First
Team All-Region high school football player, lettered in high
school wrestling and track, a high school national powerlifting
champion, and a Scottish Highland Games competitor.
Foreman has coached multiple regional, state, and national
champions in track & field, powerlifting, and weightlifting, and
was an assistant coach on 5A Arizona state runner-up football
and track teams.
10
CHRIS GARAY
willpower
Happy New Year! Each year when December rolls
over into January, a widespread phenomenon called
the New Year’s resolution occurs. The idea is that
the change of year affords one the opportunity to
press reset, so to speak, and attempt to adopt a new,
favorable habit (or at least ditch an old, unfavorable
one). The only problem, you see, is that New Year’s
resolutions do not work… at all.
In 2007, Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor
in the United Kingdom, tracked 3,000 people as they
made New Year’s resolutions. While over half of the
participants were confident of their success at the
outset, the actual result one year later was abysmal.
Only about 12 percent—just one in eight people—
achieved their goal. Did Wiseman and his crew
just happen to pick over 2,600 lazy, uncommitted
participants for this study? Or does this highlight a
greater issue about how humans make decisions and
choices in their everyday lives?
What is it about making good decisions that can
sometimes be so hard? Many weight loss clients,
despite rationally knowing it is the right thing to do,
have trouble sticking to a diet. Many athletes, despite
being told repeatedly to do so, consistently fail to work
on their mobility. The key factor here is willpower, and
understanding what it is and how it works will benefit
you and those you work with greatly.
Willpower and Decision Fatigue
In their 2012 book Willpower: Rediscovering the
Greatest Human Strength, Roy Baumeister and John
Tierney discuss the subtleties of willpower and selfcontrol. Interestingly enough, it was not always widely
accepted that people have the ability to control their
own thoughts, desires, and actions. Now, in part due
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
to research done by psychologists all over the world, it
is a well-documented fact that people do indeed draw
upon their willpower to either make good decisions or
resist from making bad ones.
But willpower is a finite resource, akin to the gas tank
in your car (1,2). Each day you draw upon the reserve
of willpower whenever you make a decision, no matter
how large or small. Choosing between scrambled and
fried eggs in the morning is a decision, just as deciding
between going back to grad school or taking a job in
the city is, although they clearly differ by degree of
importance.
When you slow down and take notice, you’ll see that
your life is actually full of tiny little choices all the time.
From deciding which clothes to wear to what to eat
for lunch to what to do this weekend, your brain is
constantly at work choosing between this and that,
that and this.
Have you ever driven your car to the point where
it completely runs out of gas, sputters, and stops
running? Yeah, me neither. But if you have, then
you know how it is a very similar to process to what
happens when we run out of willpower. This term is
decision fatigue, and it is a very real psychological
phenomenon that occurs when we have simply
depleted our ability to make choices (3). Often, what
happens next is that we default to the easier decision,
whether or not that is actually the wise thing to do.
Consider what most people do when they go on a
diet. Breakfast is often no problem: they are at home,
have very few temptations, and have yet to make any
other fatiguing decisions that day. Lunch is a bit riskier,
as there are other people indulging in bad foods all
around them, and they’ve already had a morning of
work that used up some willpower.
11
However, by dinner, and especially dessert, many
people are so mentally exhausted from a day full of
decisions that it is much easier to choose whatever
food is lying around, regardless of whether it fits on
their diet plan or not. To a busy lawyer working 60+
hours each week, the familiar pasta and marinara
sauce is a lot easier than trying some new Paleo
recipe they have never made.
Leveraging Willpower to Make Better
Decisions
Fortunately, there are many steps we can take to avoid
decision fatigue and use willpower to our advantage.
First of all, willpower is a trainable quality, and just like
a muscle, it can increase in size and strength when
placed under an appropriate amount of stress and
allowed to recover (4).
For instance, researchers in one particular study found
that monitoring and correcting posture throughout the
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
day can lead to significant improvements in willpower
(5). That is, something as simple and mundane as
sitting up straight, like your mother always told you to
do, can actually help with self-control.
Likewise, willpower is like a bank account in that
you have the ability to both withdraw and deposit
funds. If you spend all your money, then you will go
bankrupt. However, if you save up, invest wisely, and
reduce excess spending, then your bank account (or
willpower) will slowly increase.
One practical method to reduce spending your
willpower is simply to avoid having to make that many
decisions each day. The key here is to pre-commit to
the decision and automate various aspects of your
life. If you are trying to eat clean, then get rid of any
bad food in your house. Without having the option of
processed junk, eating well requires no self-control.
Alternatively, consider planning out your meals,
12
and even preparing them, the previous day. During
commercial breaks of your favorite television show
(So You Think You Can Dance, anyone?), simply grab
a pen and paper and jot down what you plan on eating
the next day. Bonus points if you actually go and prep
the food afterwards, thus virtually eliminating any
future act of volition required to eat well.
In the gym, perhaps you have experienced paralysis
by analysis, struggling to make a decision between
this or that workout routine. If this is the case, then
you should hire a coach or follow a set program. This
outsources the task of program design, thus freeing
up your mind to focus on other decisions that matter
to you.
Also of note, researchers have found that glucose
plays a key role in decision fatigue (6). That is, the
less glucose you have readily available for your brain,
the harder it is to choose wisely. Thus, if you know
you have a hard decision coming up, then you should
go into it with a full tank (of glucose).
For example, if you are going out to dinner with friends
but want to stay strict Paleo, then eat a small meal
of meat and vegetables beforehand. This allows you
to confidently order a grilled chicken salad with a tall
glass of water when your friends start ordering extra
cheese pizza and hoppy beer. Making this kind of
decision on an empty stomach can take serious effort
and deplete your willpower for future decisions.
Last, do your best to reduce clutter at home, at work,
and at the gym. Both physically and psychologically,
clutter can be draining on willpower. If you are staring
at a messy desk, you are subconsciously wasting
energy on deciding what not to work on. Similarly,
if your gym has a bunch of unnecessary equipment
littered throughout, part of your workouts will be
deciding on what not to use.
It is my sincere hope that by using what you now know
about willpower, you will be able to avoid decision
fatigue, make better choices, set clear goals, and
maybe even beat the odds and achieve your New
Year’s Resolution.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
References
Self-control as a limited resource: Regulatory depletion
patterns. Muraven, Mark; Tice, Dianne M.; Baumeister,
Roy F. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 74(3), Mar 1998, 774-789. doi: 10.1037/00223514.74.3.774
Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource?
Baumeister, Roy F.; Bratslavsky, Ellen; Muraven, Mark; Tice,
Dianne M. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 74(5), May 1998, 1252-1265. doi: 10.1037/00223514.74.5.1252
Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: A limitedresource account of decision-making, self-regulation,
and active initiative. Vohs, Kathleen D.; Baumeister, Roy
F.; Schmeichel, Brandon J.; Twenge, Jean M.; Nelson,
Noelle M.; Tice, Dianne M., Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, Vol. 94(5), May 2008, 883-898. doi:
10.1037/0022-3514.94.5.883
Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does selfcontrol resemble a muscle? Muraven, Mark; Baumeister,
Roy F. Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 126(2), Mar 2000, 247259. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.247
Longitudinal Improvement of Self-Regulation Through
Practice: Building Self-Control Strength Through Repeated
Exercise Muraven, Mark; Baumeister, Roy F., Tice, Dianne
M. The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 139(4), Aug 1999,
446-457. doi: 10.1080/00224549909598404
Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source:
Willpower is more than a metaphor. Gailliot, Matthew T.;
Baumeister, Roy F.; DeWall, C. Nathan; Maner, Jon K.; Plant,
E. Ashby; Tice, Dianne M.; Brewer, Lauren E.; Schmeichel,
Brandon J. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 92(2), Feb 2007, 325-336. doi: 10.1037/00223514.92.2.325
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Chris Garay is a freelance fitness and music professional based
out of Virginia. His background includes degrees in philosophy
and religion, several national tours as a percussionist, and years
studying physical training and applying it in the gym on a daily
basis. He can be found practicing handstands, drinking coffee,
or writing at www.chrisgaray.com.
13
ERIK BLEKEBERG
PROGRAMMING AND
PROGRESSIONS FOR
YOUTH WEIGHTLIFTING:
BUILDING WEIGHTLIFTING’S FUTURE
PE programs are being cut, sports other than football
or basketball get less money every year, and the injury
rate of kids goes up as the movement quality goes
down. I got into coaching the high school sector in
strength and conditioning, but found it’s about a lot
more than just lifting weights. It is about building a
program that develops kids that care about movement
and how they do things, kids that have focus, goals
and drive.
I have built an effective Strength & Conditioning
program at Army and Navy Academy High School,
but my focus has been on trying to make America a
power in weightlifting again and that starts with the
kids: they are the future lifters of the world, and if they
are not going to be lifters, then they can at least be
fans. I want to see more high school programs pop
up because right now I am the only one in all of San
Diego. What follows is a layout of what I have used to
build an effective weightlifting program that in its first
year sent three kids to Nationals to place in the top
six. We have just gotten started and wish to see more
schools follow suit!
First, you teach: How to teach a large
group of kids to lift
To instruct a large group of kids in lifting, I use a
concept I got from Coach Dan John, dumbbell yoga.
This is a series of exercises, stretches and drills that’s
designed to help teach people the basic movements
of lifting in a safe environment that allows for easy
correction. The program is as follows:
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
•
•
•
•
Warmer (light jogging or jumping jacks)
hip flexor stretch
adductor stretch
T-Spine dynamic stretch
Yoga flow (eccentric pushup, cobra, child’s pose,
downward dog)- breath control emphasized
From downward dog – warrior one pose, both sides
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Push-ups x10
Goblet squat x 10
Dumbbell deadlift x 10
Dumbbell snatch x 5
R Waiter walk - 20 yards
Dumbbell snatch x 5
L Waiter Walk - 20 yards
Repeat one more time
This sequence of exercises is done in a military large
group format where reps are controlled and counted
as a group. This allows for easy coaching and
everyone can see everyone else to get feedback on
how to properly perform the exercise while receiving
coaching cues.
Then you must have a plan: A Periodized
Year for High School Weightlifting
Periodization seems to have mixed views nowadays.
Some think it is the only way to do things and create
success, others think it is devil’s magic from a bygone
Soviet era. Whichever way you look at it, you need to
have a plan over the course of the year if you intend to
14
take a kid from zero to a total. The layout of the year
for me looks like this:
Late August/September – Learn/Teach
Phase 1
Using dumbbell yoga as a warm-up, lifters then go
through the main movements. Programmed lifts
include trap bar deadlifts, push-ups, pull-ups, rows,
kettlebell swings, back Squats, front squats and
varying ab exercises.
October/Early November – Grow Phase Dumbbell
yoga is no longer done; a joint movement warm-up
is used instead. After that, we cover the technique of
the snatch and clean with the bar/stick and use that
as skillwork in 15-minute sessions before the main
exercises. The main exercises included are the back
squat, front squat, press, bench press, deadlift, RDL,
good mornings, lunges, kettlebell swings, and varying
ab exercises. The goal is hypertrophy and improved
competency in more advanced lifts.
Late November/December (befor
winter break) Strength Test Phase
The exercises have not changed, but the focus is on
lifting at a heavier percent of their one rep max. Max
testing week is performed, but technique is carefully
controlled. Most of these 1RMs could potentially be
two to three rep maxes, but the body has reached
technical failure so the lift is not pushed heavier.
The Olympic lifts are still in their infancy but are
progressing with technique plates. Still, the sn and
c+j are done for reps of three, with a focus on position
and consistency. We’re now up to about 20 minutes
of training time.
Early January - Review Phase
There is a two-week break following the Strength Test
Phase, followed by a two-week get back in shape
program that refocuses their mind and gets their
bodies remembering the lifts.
Late January/February – Develop/
Strength/Specialize
We now focus on the lifts, with more experienced lifters
working in the 80 percent range on the snatch and the
clean+jerk, while additional barbell work is kept in the
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
80-90 percent rep range and cycled through. The first
developmental meet is in February. Only competent
lifters may compete; others are required to attend to
watch and learn.
March/April/May – Competition Phase
March marks our first major competition. Only top
competent candidates are permitted in the first meet,
but all must compete in the April meet. If technique
is still in development, then the meet is treated as a
technique meet for them. Volume is reduced overall
and they are preparing for one meet a month. Those
qualifying for Nationals will NOT compete in May but
will enter an extended prep for that National meet.
Otherwise, May will be the final meet.
June – Training for the future/
Nationals Prep
Some will graduate and never see me again, while
others are staying and training for Nationals. In the
case of the former, I teach basic programming skills
and explain how I structured their workouts and why,
and make sure they can continue on at least for fitness
if not for competition. The crew preparing for Nationals
cycles week by week and the planned openers and
lifts are decided at the start of the month and worked
towards throughout the rest of the month. Youth
Nationals typically takes place at the end of June.
Don’t forget love: How to introduce
lifting to kids
I don’t just start teaching the kids the lifts. That
makes them go through the motions. I first want wideeyed fans. I show videos (the DVDs from Ironmind
and YouTube) of different competitions and always
dedicate at least the last 10 minutes of class to
watching competitions and lifting, always World level
lifters. The kids learn the names, they learn the format
and they want to be like them, not only that they learn
the technique.
I teach technique from the bottom up.
• Snatch
• Snatch Deadlift
• Snatch High Pull
• Muscle Snatch w/Squat
• Power Snatch
• Full Snatch
15
•
•
•
•
Clean
Clean Deadlift
Clean Pull
Power Clean w/Squat
•
•
•
•
•
Jerk
Dip and Extend
Power Jerk
Split (if necessary)
Clean + Jerk
I find this method has an easy sequential format for
getting the kids to understand how the lift should feel,
how to keep the pull long and how to be explosive.
I always relate back to the videos to show the boys
what they are learning and help them have better
understanding.
And don’t scare them away:
Competitions done right
I am not someone who believes in holding a kid back
for four years while he masters the technique and
THEN letting him compete. By that same token, I
don’t think you should push the kid to max and shoot
for PRs when he can’t even do the lift right every time.
All my boys compete in the spring, regardless of how
long they have been in the program because I want
them to learn format. If need be we will keep them on
technique plates in the competition, and I give them
notes and ratings on how they did. I don’t care about
their total. I care about how can we improve and most
importantly, whether or not they had fun.
Competing should be fun for kids. Let them decide
how serious they want to take it. The competitions
that all the newer lifters do are ALWAYS on home turf
so they feel comfortable. More experienced lifters go
to a variety of locations, lift on different bars and get
challenged. The key is building the confidence over
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
time and making them see how much fun competitive
weightlifting can be. It reminds them that they are
spending all this time practicing for SOMETHING. You
can’t just keep a kid locked away for years on end;
they won’t be able to see the light.
Making it last: Build a team and
culture
A team is a culture. It has a unified attitude, clothes,
lifting styles, etc. You need to create a team because
when someone is having a bad day, the coach doesn’t
need to help them out of it, the team can. They support
each other, pitch in to do work or fundraise and make
it a more enjoyable experience. There are plenty of
articles and books out there on how to build great
teams, but it’s really just caring enough to make one.
Get some shirts, have team breaks, have a record
board and make everyone feel like they’re a part of
the club. It can go a long way and help make sure that
all the technical work you put in to coach and develop
the athletes does not go to waste.
Weightlifting is a precarious sport in the US and
has some diehard followers. There have been many
avenues to discover it but many people always wish
they had discovered the sport earlier. Youth need
the sport of weightlifting more than ever and they
need it taught right. So get into the high school and
youth sectors; teach, plan, build and grow, because
weightlifting’s future is learning to read and write right
now.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Erik Blekeberg is the Owner/Coach for SquatMore Weightlifting
as well as the Coach for the Army & Navy Academy (Carlsbad,
CA) Weightlifting team and the Strength & Conditioning
Coach for their varying sports teams. He is also National level
weightlifter in the 105kg Class.
16
KYLE J. SMITH
BEING A SMARTMAN IN
STRONGMAN
New York City’s Global Strongman Gym hosted a
strongman show in early December in the Washington
Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. I competed in
the male novice division (open weight), because at a
bodyweight of 250 pounds, I can’t even pick most of
the objects off the ground in my actual weight class. It
was a long, cold day and I walked away with a second
place trophy. The trophy itself was really cool- a silver
Viking with a badass beard, a shield and a staff.
There were about 15 people in my division and I didn’t
out-muscle any of them, I out-smarted them. Too
many men left cards on the table by not preparing
well, not using optimal form, and not executing a plan
in a calm, determined manner. By stepping through
the competition--before, during and after--I’ll lay out
how to make the most of your next strongman show…
or any competition, really!
Train for the events
For two months leading up to the competition,
we had a list of the events and the weights. While
there may be some variability based on the exact
equipment you use, you should still be completely
comfortable with the basic implement and the weight
at which you are expected to perform. While there
are many other variables to consider in other sports
(sorry, CrossFitters), Strongmen, much like Olympic
weightlifters, should have a pretty clear idea of how
they are going to perform.
This category is actually where I performed the worst.
My strongman training was playing second fiddle to
my regular CrossFit endeavors, so as I entered my first
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
event, a shoulder to overhead medley, I was unsure of
how fast I should go. As a result of being ill-prepared,
I probably left two to four reps on the table…which
amounted to five to 10 places in the event!
In addition, if you have an idea how the entire event is
run, be ready for that rhythm. For instance, warm-up
time was incredibly short at my show. If you weren’t
mentally and physically prepared to deadlift at 315
pounds after just a couple warm up sets, you were
SOL because the judge was ready to say GO! Be
adaptable; things can always go awry.
Learn optimal technique
As a CrossFit coach, I am spoiled by my community
in this regard. In the box, technique comes second to
only safety. I understand this isn’t the case in many
communities. I had a huge (and very legal) advantage
on my opponents because I push jerked 175 pounds
in the first event instead of humping up a red-faced
military press. It was painful to watch so many
competitors risk life and limb with the dangerous
maneuvers they were attempting under load.
I have trained sporadically with strongman implements
over the past two years. To grossly oversimplify, I
would say most implements require you to perform
bizarro versions of the Olympic lifts. If you have a
thorough understanding of how to snatch and clean
and jerk a barbell, with some tweaking and practicing
you can figure out how to safely and efficiently lift most
strongman implements. For more helpful information
on this topic, go read Brian Tabor’s article, Developing
Efficiency in Strongman for All Sizes: Seven Tips For
Athletes, Big & Small.
17
As a side note, one thing I would have added to
many of the Strongmen’s training is some smart
conditioning. There is no reason to leave a 50-feet
yoke carry huffing and puffing like you just ran a mile.
Also, not much makes you more mentally tough than
a beautiful CrossFit metcon. Some of the competitors
seemed unable to dive very deep into “the suck zone;”
as they became at all metabolically taxed everything
began to fall apart, including their sense of self. These
conditioning efforts shouldn’t be the thrust of your
training, but they may be a helpful ingredient if used
wisely.
Get a Strongman coach
I trained with the owner of Global Strongman Gym,
Hans Pirman, once a month leading up to the
competition. His insight into the sport was priceless
and I wouldn’t have performed as well without him.
Strongman is such a nuanced sport. Without the
experience of an expert, it’s hard to learn a lot of
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
the important lessons without making the mistakes
yourself.
A legitimate coach (be it someone you pay, or just a
smart friend) will guide you through the competition
with grace, intelligence and just the right amount of
heart. There were way too many “coaches” out there
focusing on heart instead of sense and science. For
instance, during the deadlift event I heard one “coach”
yell at his athlete these three phrases, in this order:
You got the heart of a champion.
Keep after it.
Eat that shit.
I felt bad for the athlete. As he left the platform all he
could think was, “Man, I just didn’t want it bad enough.”
That clearly was not the case, he unfortunately just
wasn’t handed the right tools. What this athlete
actually needed to hear was:
18
Knees out.
Drop your hips.
Breathe.
Brain before brawn, and use heart sparingly. Don’t
hope for a miracle when knowing how to deadlift
correctly will do the trick.
Have a strategy for each event
Event number four was max deadlifts in one minute at
315 pounds. Almost all of the competitors started their
minute by doing one max set of unbroken deadlifts
(amounting to about 14 to 18 deadlifts.) This left them
with 15 to 20 seconds and nothing left in the tank. For
the remainder of the minute they were left struggling
with a weight that would not have been a problem had
it been paced correctly. In the heat of the moment,
basic strategies like this may slip your mind. Teach
yourself composure and learn how to execute a plan
with finesse.
I went into the last event, max atlas stones over the
bar at 200 pounds in one minute, in third place. The
Strongman before me got 10 stones, securing first
place. Obviously my goal was 11+, but how? I didn’t
pre-plan this strategy, but by the third stone I found
myself so anxious to get to 11 that I was helping the
judge roll the stone back to my starting position. This
“trick” gave me just the edge I needed to get 11 stones
and move into second place. Watch your competitors
and learn from what they do right and wrong. As they
say, every rep counts.
Have a game day plan
Control the variables you can control. Before each
event, I had a mini warm-up I did on my own to get
mentally and physically prepared. Yeah, I may not
have been able to use the log as much as I would
have liked before tossing weight overhead, but I was
in the zone thanks to a short jog, calisthenics and
stretching.
Thank God my girlfriend loves me enough to hang out
in the cold with me all day. Without her there, I wouldn’t
have had coffee, gloves, food or companionship! A lot
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
of hard training can go to pot real quick if you don’t
have the supplies to last all day long. Know what
you’re getting into, and plan ahead.
Learn and have fun
Watching people compete provides endless
opportunities to learn. Equally as important for your
own well-being, remember to have fun. No one there
was getting paid enough (read: no one was getting
paid, at all) to stress or to let the competition be a
detriment to their daily life. Local competitions like
this should be fun and uplifting. If you’re not there to
have fun and encourage others, please leave.
Since you’ve read this far in my article I’ll go ahead and
address a related topic that has been concerning me
recently. It’s in regard to some advice I shared earlier,
“...and use heart sparingly.” With the onset of CrossFit
and competitive fitness, too many of my friends are
making the mistake of mixing too deeply exercise
and emotion (a.k.a. heart.) Emotion, in fitness and in
life, is a tool; when you’re using it, it can be powerful,
but when it’s using you, you lose. Do WODs make
you sad? Why do the wires of exercise and emotion
even cross in your head? Please stop attaching moral
attributes and morale to your fitness, it’s supposed
to improve your life, not run it. Now let’s get back on
track…
Do a Strongman show
I really enjoyed my experience and have a kick ass
trophy to show for it. It was an excellent change
of pace from Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit
competitions and can be a positive addition to
anyone’s healthy lifestyle. Also, I believe the mindset
of all the communities can positively influence one
another. Give it a shot. You may be stronger than you
think.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Kyle J Smith is a coach at CrossFit NYC and a contributing
writer at Greatist. You can follow his “Quest for the 300 LB
Snatch” at his Tumblr and compliment his moustache any day
by stopping by the gym.
19
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
20
BETH SKWARECKI
True or False: MUSCLE
SORENESS MEANS YOU’RE
GETTING STRONGER
Whether you’re hitting the gym again after a too-long
holiday break, or you’ve hopped on the resolution
bandwagon with some new ambitious goals, maybe,
just maybe, you’re waking up sore. Is that next-day
ache a sign you’re doing too much too soon, or an
indicator of muscle growth you should be seeking
out?
First, let’s get technical. The soreness we’re talking
about isn’t the burn you feel during an exercise, nor
the Jell-O-like feeling you might get afterward. We’re
talking DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness. A
textbook case starts six to eight hours after you work
out, and peaks about two days later.
It’s nothing to do with lactic acid; we can bust that
myth right away. Lactate is produced whenever you
feel a burn, say while lifting, but it’s a bystander to the
pain, not a cause. Lactate even provides more fuel
for your muscles, putting it squarely on the good-guy
side of the equation. Still suspicious? Lactate is like
a good houseguest, clearing out as soon as its time
is up. As you’re walking out of the gym, the lactate
is being flushed from your muscles. By morning,
soreness may be raging, but lactate is long gone.
So what’s really going on in your muscles after a hard
workout? If you were to take a slice of sore muscle
and put it under the microscope, you’d see that the
muscle fibers, instead of being neatly stacked next to
each other, may be torn and stretched out, showing
damage to the cells’ membranes and contractile
proteins.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
We know that when muscles are sore, they tend to
be damaged. The problem is that it’s hard to match
up the amount of damage that’s occurred with the
amount of soreness you’re feeling. You’d expect the
soreness and the damage to peak at the same time,
for example, but scientists who’ve tried to connect
the two phenomena found that you just can’t rely on
soreness as a precise measure of damage. In broad
strokes, though, it can get you in the right ballpark:
somebody who is very sore probably has significant
muscle damage, and somebody who isn’t sore
probably has little to none.
But about that damage. What doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger, right? There’s a theory that a little
damage is a good thing: in repairing damaged muscle
tissue, the body builds it up stronger than it was
before. A recent article by Brad Schoenfeld and Bret
Contreras in the Strength and Conditioning Journal
inspects that line of reasoning. If soreness means
damage, and damage means bigger, stronger muscles
are being built, can you use soreness to gauge how
effective your workouts are at building muscle? It’s an
attractive theory, but there are a lot of dots to connect
before we can say for sure.
First, here’s some of what we know goes on in
damaged muscle cells:
• White blood cells arrive on the scene and cause
muscle cells to make chemicals called myokines
that help to build stronger muscle. However,
21
muscle cells can make myokines even without
being prompted by the white blood cells, so
damage may not be necessary for this.
• Muscles have their own stem cells called
satellite cells. When muscle tissue is damaged,
the satellite cells create new muscle cells and
provide essential life support to damaged ones.
They also make some chemicals that are used
as signals to build more muscle. But, once
again, scientists have also watched this happen
in muscle tissue that wasn’t damaged.
• Muscle cells swell, taking on water. Scientists
believe this can trigger cells to produce more
proteins, but that’s an observation from the lab,
and hasn’t been seen in real life muscle tissue.
So it’s another maybe.
• A different type of white blood cell may signal
other helper cells to aid in the rebuilding. And it
seems that ROS, reactive oxygen species, may
be what it uses for that signal. This is why taking
antioxidants may be a bad idea, since they
interfere with ROS.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
A few years ago, scientists thought that antioxidants
would be good for athletes: kill off the ROS, and
you’ll reduce muscle damage. But studies tended to
show the opposite effect. Although there are no good
studies on trained lifters, there’s a growing body of
evidence from animals and miscellaneous humans
showing that antioxidant supplements hurt more than
they help. They inhibit muscle growth in mice, aerobic
gains in new Crossfitters, and recovery in competitive
kayakers.
The truth is that muscle cells are mysterious bags
of sarcoplasm and we don’t fully understand what
triggers them to grow bigger and stronger. The effects
above may well contribute to muscle growth, but it
would be wrong to say they’re essential in the process.
We know that hypertrophy (basically, bigger muscles)
can happen without any detectable muscle damage.
A study of elderly people illustrated this beautifully:
Five men and six women, all in their seventies and
eighties, attempted to pedal forwards on what you
might describe as an exercise bike from Hell: it pedals
22
itself backward at the same time, strongly enough
that its unfortunate riders were pushing with all their
might and still going backward. This, by the way, was
their entire exercise regimen for 11 weeks, starting
at a gentle level and ramping up until they became
backwards-pedaling beasts. The results were a
stunning amount of muscle growth and an equally
stunning lack of muscle damage. While your workouts
are tougher than theirs, this proves an important point:
damage and soreness aren’t essential to the process
of building muscle.
If you need to alter your training regimen to avoid losing
days to soreness, here is some of what we know about
preventing it. First, eccentric contractions, while great
for building muscle, are also notorious for causing
that can’t-walk-down-the-stairs feeling the next day.
A lesser known, but related, factor is when the peak
contraction occurs. If it happens when the muscle is
lengthened, that’s going to cause more soreness than
if the muscle is working hardest in a shorter position.
Knowing this, you can plan your workouts to go easy
on the negatives on days that serious soreness is a
possibility.
But why worry about the pain? Mild or moderate
soreness isn’t a big deal; we’ve all pushed through
that. But extreme damage, which is signaled by
extreme soreness, is something to avoid—NOT a goal
to pursue as a badge of bad-ass-ness.
The only problem is determining how much soreness
is too much. There isn’t a strict threshold, but I can
give you some information that might help you find
your own sweet spot.
First, the necessary caution about rhabdomyolysis.
This is what happens when muscle damage is so
extreme that proteins from the muscles end up in
the bloodstream. At this point, an athlete’s muscles
are very swollen, very sore, very weak, and most
concerning, their urine may be dark, and kidney
failure may be imminent. To be honest, rhabdo is rare,
and most cases in the medical literature come from
people who were forced by an irresponsible trainer to
exercise past the point where they felt they needed
to stop.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
Within the tolerable range of soreness, an important
factor to be aware of is how much your strength has
been reduced. Muscle damage is considered “severe”
when the muscle’s capacity is down to 50% of what
it can usually do. In this case, recovering full strength
may take three weeks, although soreness will have
resolved sooner than that. This suggests that you’re
better off tracking recovery by how much you can lift
(or how easily you can lift a given weight) rather than
by how sore you feel.
Does it hurt (or rather, is it a bad idea) to work out
while you’re still sore? Studies suggest that no extra
damage results. In one study, untrained subjects
did a tough eccentric workout, and then did another
session two days later, when they were still sore.
Although their strength was at 75 percent when they
started the workout, by the next day they were back
up to 80 percent, the same as the control group that
did the initial workout but had been resting ever since.
More detailed tests showed they had no more muscle
damage than the controls and no longer recovery
time, although it’s not proven that the same would be
true of athletes doing more serious workouts.
But even if those extra workouts don’t hurt, it’s not
clear that they’re helping. If your muscles’ capacity
is reduced, then the weights you lift while recovering
aren’t going to be as heavy as the ones you could lift
if you hadn’t damaged your muscles so much in the
first place.
In their review, Schoenfeld and Contreras conclude
that a little soreness is fine, because it’s a sign that
you’ve achieved some muscle damage, but soreness
that interferes too much with your ability to do your
usual workouts (they don’t define “too much;” that’s
up to you) is counter-productive. Probably the most
sensible interpretation of damage is that it’s not strictly
necessary to build muscle, but it helps.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Beth Skwarecki is a freelance science writer who questions
everything. What does she want? Evidence-based
recommendations! When does she want it? After peer review!
Follow her on twitter: @BethSkw.
23
CHRIS KRESSER
WHY PALEO? FROM CAVE
TO CHRONIC ILLNESS
Excerpted from the book Your Personal Paleo Code by
Chris Kresser.
Copyright © 2013 by Chris Kresser. Reprinted with permission of Little, Brown and
Company.
Consider the following:
•Diabetes and obesity combined affect more
than a billion people worldwide, including one
hundred million Americans.
•More than half of Americans are overweight; a
full third are clinically obese.
•Heart disease causes four out of every ten
deaths in the United States.
•One-third of Americans have high blood
pressure, which contributes to almost eight
hundred thousand strokes every year — the
leading cause of serious, long-term disability.
Annually, there are 12.7 million strokes
worldwide.
•More than thirty-six million people are now
living with dementia.
•Depression is now the leading cause of
disability, affecting more than 120 million
people worldwide.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. We’re
getting fatter and sicker every year.
Now imagine, for a moment, a world
where:
•Modern, chronic diseases, like diabetes, obesity,
some cancers, autoimmune disorders, and heart
disease, are rare or nonexistent.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
•The world population is naturally lean and fit.
•We all age gracefully with strong bones, sharp
vision, and normal blood pressure.
While this might sound like pure fantasy today,
anthropological evidence suggests that this is exactly
how human beings lived for the vast majority of our
species’ evolutionary history.
Today, most people accept disorders like obesity,
diabetes, and heart disease as normal. But while these
problems may be common now, they’re anything but
normal. Our species evolved roughly two million years
ago, and for more than sixty-six thousand generations,
humans were free of the modern diseases that today
kill millions of people each year and make countless
others miserable. In fact, the world I asked you to
imagine above was the natural state for humans’
history on this planet up until the agricultural
revolution occurred, about eleven thousand years
(366 generations) ago — less than 0.5 percent of the
time recognizably human beings have been here. It’s
a tiny blip on the evolutionary time scale.
What happened? What transformed healthy and vital
people free of chronic diseases into sick, fat, and
unhappy people?
In a word? Mismatch.
Agriculture: The Worst Mistake in
Human History?
Like it or not, we humans are animals. And like all
animals, we have a species-appropriate diet and way
of life.
24
When animals eat and live in accordance with the
environment to which they’ve adapted, they thrive.
Cats, with their sharp teeth and short intestinal tracts,
evolved to be carnivores, so when we feed them grainrich kibble, they develop kidney trouble and other
woes. Cows naturally graze on grass; when they eat
too much grain, harmful bacteria proliferate and make
them sick. We humans face a similar mismatch. Our
biology and genes evolved in a particular environment.
Then that environment changed far faster than humans
could adapt, with a few important exceptions that I’ll
cover later in this chapter. The result? The modern
epidemic of chronic disease.
For the vast majority of existence, humans lived as
Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, eating the meat they
hunted, the fish they caught, and the vegetables,
fruits, and tubers they picked while on the move. The
agricultural revolution dramatically altered humans’
food supply and way of life. They learned to stay
put, planting crops and domesticating cows, sheep,
goats, and pigs. Early farmers consumed foods that
their hunter-gatherer predecessors didn’t eat, such
as cereal grains, milk and meat from domesticated
animals, and legumes and other cultivated plants.
While scientists have argued that these developments
allowed our species to flourish socially and
intellectually, the consequences of this shift from a
Paleolithic to an agricultural diet and lifestyle were
disastrous for human health. In evolutionary terms,
eleven thousand years is the blink of an eye, not
nearly long enough for humans to completely adapt
to this new way of eating. This is why the influential
scientist and author Jared Diamond called agriculture
“the worst mistake in human history.” He argued that
hunter-gatherers “practiced the most successful and
longest-lasting lifestyle in human history” and were all
but guaranteed a healthy diet because of the diversity
and nutrient density of the foods they consumed. Once
humans switched diets and became more sedentary,
our species’ naturally robust health began to decline.
How do we know that agriculture has been so
harmful to humanity? There are three main points of
evidence:
•A decline in health among hunter-gatherer
populations that adopted agriculture
•The robust health of contemporary huntergatherers
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
•The poor health of people who rely heavily on
grains as a staple
Let’s look at each of these in more detail.
What happened when hunter-gatherers became
farmers?
Studying bones gives scientists a window into the
health of our distant ancestors and offers insight
into what an optimal human diet might be. Some
archaeologists and anthropologists today may have
a better understanding of human nutrition than the
average health-care practitioner!
So what have these scientists learned from examining
the bones of humans who shifted from a Paleolithic
hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one? The
fossil record shows a rapid and clear decline in health
in places where agriculture was adopted. Tooth decay
and anemia due to iron deficiency became widespread,
average bone density decreased, and infant mortality
increased. These changes resulted in large part from
the nutritional stress of eating a diet inappropriate for
our species.
We also shrank. Skeletal remains from Greece and
Turkey indicate that the average height of huntergatherers at the end of the ice age was five nine for men
and five five for women. After agriculture was adopted
in these areas, the average height fell to a low of five
three for men and five feet for women. Archaeologists
have found similar shrinkage in skeletons all over the
world when populations shifted to agriculture.
Early farmers lost more than inches from their skeletons;
they lost years from their lives. Anthropologist George
Armelagos studied the American Indians living in the
Ohio River Valley in approximately AD 1150. His team
compared the skeletons of hunter-gatherers that lived
in the same area with those of the early farmers who
followed them. The farmers had 50 percent more
tooth-enamel defects (suggestive of malnutrition),
four times as much iron-deficiency anemia, three
times more bone lesions, and an overall increase
in degenerative conditions of the spine. Their life
expectancy at birth also dropped, from twenty-six
years to nineteen years.
25
In their book The 10,000 Year Explosion, anthropologists
Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending argued that
these dramatic declines in health were brought on by
a major shift in the human diet. When hunter-gatherers
switched to farmers’ diets, their average carbohydrate
intake shot up while the amount of protein plummeted.
The quality of that protein also decreased, since almost
any type of meat has a desirable amino acid balance,
whereas most plants do not. Vitamin shortages were
common because the new diet was based on a limited
set of crops and was lower in more nutrient-dense
animal products. Evidence suggests that these early
farmers, who depended on one or two starchy crops,
like wheat or corn, may have developed vitamindeficiency diseases such as beriberi, pellagra, rickets,
and scurvy. Their hunter-gatherer ancestors, who ate
a wide variety of foods rich in vitamins and minerals,
rarely suffered from these diseases.
Because of “plentiful protein, vitamin D, and sunlight in
early childhood,” our Paleo ancestors were “extremely
tall,” had very good teeth, and larger skulls and
pelvises, according to one group of archaeologists.
Their farming descendants, by contrast, suffered
skull deformities because of iron-deficiency anemia,
had more tooth decay, were more prone to infectious
diseases, and were much shorter, “apparently because
subsistence by this time is characterized by a heavy
emphasis on a few starchy food crops.” Farming
may have offered our ancestors a more stable and
predictable food supply, but this stability came at a
great price.
Didn’t Our Paleo Ancestors Die
Young?
A common question I hear from Paleo skeptics is
something along the lines of “Didn’t Stone Age people
die before their thirtieth birthday?”
It’s true that, on average, our Paleo ancestors died
younger than we do. However, these averages don’t
factor in challenges largely absent from modern
American lives: high infant mortality, violence and
accidents, infectious diseases, and lack of medical
care. Hunter-gatherer populations had infant-mortality
rates about thirty times higher than those in the United
States today; early-childhood-mortality rates were
more than one hundred times higher. These higher
infant- and childhood-mortality rates were caused
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
by accidents, trauma, exposure to the elements,
violence, warfare, and untreated acute infectious
diseases — issues that, fortunately, few of us in the
developed world face. These untimely deaths had the
net effect of dragging down average life expectancy.
If, out of ten Paleo people, three died in infancy, two
died during childhood from exposure to the elements,
and two died as teenagers in warfare, then even if the
remaining three lived long, healthy lives, the average
life span in this hypothetical group would still be
short.
Recent research that has taken the high infantmortality rates of our Paleolithic ancestors into account
suggests that if our Stone Age forebears survived
childhood, they had life spans roughly equivalent
to those of people living in industrialized societies
today, with a range from sixty-eight to seventy-eight
years. Even more important, they reached these ages
without any signs of the chronic inflammatory and
degenerative diseases that we consider to be normal
in developed countries, including obesity, type 2
diabetes, gout, hypertension, cardiovascular disease,
and some cancers. Sure, those of us living in modern
industrialized societies might live a little longer than
hunter-gatherers, on average. But most of our elderly
people now suffer from painful and debilitating
diseases, take several medications a day, and have
an unsatisfactory quality of life.
Fortunately, we don’t have to choose between eating
like our ancestors and reaping the benefits of modern
medicine. We can combine them to get the best of
both worlds and enjoy long life spans without the
degenerative diseases that are so common in the
industrialized world.
Contemporary hunter-gatherers: A
study in good health
Modern studies of contemporary hunter-gatherers —
people who have had minimal exposure to industrial
civilization and follow a traditional diet and lifestyle
— suggest they are largely free of the chronic
inflammatory diseases that have become epidemic in
the industrialized world.
Anthropological and medical reports of these
contemporary hunter-gatherers show they have far
fewer modern illnesses, such as metabolic syndrome,
26
cardiovascular disease, obesity, some cancers, and
autoimmune disorders, than Westernized populations.
In their study “The Western Diet and Lifestyle and
Diseases of Civilization,” nutrition researcher Pedro
Carrera-Bastos and his colleagues compared the
health of traditional populations with the health
of people living in industrialized societies. The
contemporary hunter-gatherers were superior in every
measure of health and physical fitness. They had:
•Lower blood pressure
•Excellent insulin sensitivity and lower fasting
•They were very lean, with an average body mass
index (BMI) of 20 in men and 18 in women. (By
contrast, in 2010, the average BMI of Americans
— both men and women — was 27, which is
considered overweight and is only three points
away from the obese category.)
•Compared to Westernized populations, Kitavans
had very low levels of leptin and insulin, the
hormones that regulate food intake and energy
balance. Low levels of each are associated with
leanness and overall metabolic health.
insulin levels (meaning they were less likely to
develop type 2 diabetes)
•Lower fasting leptin levels (leptin is a hormone
that regulates body fat)
•Lower body mass indexes and waist-to-height
ratios (one way of measuring optimal weight)
•Greater maximum oxygen consumption (a
measure of physical fitness)
•Better vision
•Stronger bones
Most significant, Kitavans rarely suffered the diseases
of aging that are so common in developed countries.
Lindeberg noted, “The elderly residents of Kitava
generally remain quite active up until the very end,
when they begin to suffer fatigue for a few days and
then die from what appears to be an infection or some
type of rapid degeneration. Although this is seen in
Western societies, it is relatively rare in elderly vital
people. The quality of life among the oldest residents
thus appeared to be good in the Trobriand Islands.”
Let’s look at some examples of contemporary huntergatherer populations around the world that, at least
until a short time ago, followed the traditional diet and
lifestyle.
A long, healthy life followed by an easy, quick death.
Don’t we all want that?
The Kitavans
The Inuit are a group of hunter-gatherers who live in
the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.
They eat primarily fish, seals, whale, caribou, walrus,
birds, and eggs: a diet very high in fat and protein,
with very few vegetables or fruits. They live in a
harsh environment that is marginal at best for human
habitation. Yet early explorers, physicians, and
scientists unanimously reported that the Inuit they
encountered enjoyed excellent health and vitality.
Kitava is a small island in the Trobriand Islands
archipelago in Papua New Guinea. Though not
technically hunter-gatherers (they are horticulturalists),
the Kitavans were, until recently, one of the last
populations on earth still following a traditional diet
similar in composition to Paleolithic diets. According
to Dr. Staffan Lindeberg in his 1989 book Food and
Western Disease, residents of Kitava subsisted
“exclusively on root vegetables (yam, sweet potato,
taro, tapioca), fruits (banana, papaya, pineapple,
mango, guava, watermelon, pumpkin), vegetables,
fish and coconuts.”
The Kitavans enjoyed excellent health. Dr. Lindeberg’s
study of 2,300 Kitavans found that:
•None had ever experienced heart disease or
a stroke (which was particularly remarkable
because most Kitavans smoked, and smoking
is one of the biggest risk factors for heart
disease).
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
The Inuit
Dr. John Simpson studied the Inuit in the mid-1850s. He
noted that the Inuit were “robust, muscular and active,
inclining rather to sparseness, rather than corpulence,
presenting a markedly healthy appearance. The
expression of the countenance is one of habitual
good humor. The physical constitution of both sexes
is strong.” This is especially remarkable considering
the inhospitable environment the Inuit lived in, and it’s
a testament to the nutrient density of the animal foods
that made up the majority of their diet.
Nearly a hundred years later, an American dentist
named Weston A. Price noticed an alarming increase
in tooth decay and other problems in his patients, and
27
he set out to determine whether traditional peoples
who had not adopted a Western diet suffered from the
same problems. In 1933, he took a trip to the Arctic
to visit the Inuit, one of many cultures he studied,
and he was deeply impressed by what he found. He
praised the Inuit’s “magnificent dental development”
and “freedom from dental caries” (that is, they had no
cavities).
It’s especially impressive that the Inuit enjoyed such
robust good health when you consider that their diets
were 80 to 85 percent fat, a percentage that would
surely horrify the American Medical Association!
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians, or Indigenous Australians,
were the original inhabitants of the Australian
continent and surrounding islands. They traditionally
lived as hunter-gatherers, consuming mostly animal
products — including land mammals, birds, reptiles,
sea creatures, and insects — along with a variety of
plants. The quality of their diet depended in large part
on where they lived: the subtropical, coastal areas
were lush and provided abundant food; the harsh
desert interior offered less in terms of both diversity
and amounts of food.
Nevertheless, numerous studies suggest that even
those Aboriginal Australians living in marginal
environments were free of modern diseases like
obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Weston Price
described them as “a living museum preserved from
the dawn of animal life on the earth.”
Even today, contemporary Aboriginal Australians who
maintain a traditional lifestyle are lean and fit and
show no evidence of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2
diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. A study published
in 1991 found that this population had optimal blood
pressure, fasting-glucose levels (high levels indicate
diabetes), and cholesterol levels, with an average
body mass index well below that of Australians living
in urban environments.
Aboriginal Australians who make the transition from their
traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a Westernized
lifestyle develop unusually high rates of diabetes,
cardiovascular disease, and obesity, according to the
same study, and Westernized Aboriginal Australians
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
experience a dramatic improvement in metabolic
and cardiovascular health when they return to their
traditional ways.
These three groups of hunter-gatherers have enjoyed
good health with their traditional lifestyles into the
twenty-first century, although each eats a very different
diet. This may indicate that what we don’t eat might
be just as important as what we do.
Are people who eat more grains less
healthy?
Another way to evaluate whether traditional Paleolithic
diets are healthier than modern diets is to look at
cultures and groups that consume large amounts of
grains. Are they more likely to have health problems?
There’s a great deal of research that says yes. Whole
grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds contain compounds
called phytates that bind to minerals such as calcium,
iron, zinc, and manganese, making them more difficult
to absorb. If a food contains nutrients that you can’t
absorb, you’re not going to reap their benefits.
Studies show that children on vegetarian macrobiotic
diets — “healthy” diets composed of whole grains
(especially brown rice), legumes, vegetables, and some
fruits — are deficient in vitamins and minerals and are
more likely to develop rickets than their meat-eating
peers. Breast-fed babies of macrobiotic mothers may
be getting lower levels of vitamin B12, calcium, and
magnesium, according to some research, which may
result in these babies having delayed physical and
cognitive growth.
Cultures that are heavily dependent on grains often
show signs of severe vitamin A and protein deficiencies,
which make them more susceptible to infectious
diseases. Dr. Edward Mellanby, the discoverer of
vitamin D, compared the agricultural Kikuyu tribe
with the pastoralist (livestock-raising) Masai tribe,
who consume primarily the milk, blood, and flesh of
the cows they raise. Dr. Mellanby discovered that the
Kikuyu, who lived mainly on cereals, had a far higher
incidence of bronchitis, pneumonia, tropical ulcers,
and tuberculosis.
We’ve been raised to believe that healthy whole
grains are nutritional marvels, but cereal grains like
corn, wheat, and rice don’t deserve the label healthy.
28
They’re inferior to animal products as a source of
protein because they’re incomplete, meaning that
they are missing one or more essential amino acids.
(Essential amino acids are those that we can’t
synthesize and therefore have to get from our diets.)
They’re also lower in vitamins and minerals compared
to meat and the variety of wild fruits and vegetables
consumed by our ancestors.
The evidence suggests that when we eat grains at the
expense of more nutritious foods — especially when
those grains are not properly prepared to reduce
phytates and toxins — our health suffers.
How Meat Made Us Human
Eating meat and cooking food is quite literally
what made us human. The transition from a raw,
exclusively plant-based diet to one that included
meat and cooked food (as well as starchy tubers) is
what enabled the brains of our pre-human ancestors
to grow so rapidly.
Humans have exceptionally large, neuron-rich brains
relative to body size compared to nonhuman primates.
For example, gorillas have bodies that are three times
larger than ours, but they have smaller brains with only
about a third the number of neurons that we have. So
why is it that the largest primates don’t also have the
largest brains?
The answer is that the brain competes with other organs
for resources in the body. Gorillas require a large,
metabolically expensive digestive tract to process
the high-fiber, low-calorie plant matter they consume.
This doesn’t leave enough resources for larger, higherperformance brains (like ours). The human brain is an
expensive metabolic tissue: it consumes 20 percent
of total body energy even though it represents only 2
percent of body mass.
The larger you are, the more you need to eat. The
more you need to eat, the more time you have to
spend feeding yourself. Gorillas, who are vegetarians,
already spend as much as 9.6 hours of a twelve-hour
day eating, in part because the fibrous plant matter
they consume takes so long for their bodies to break
down and absorb. In order to provide enough energy
for a human-like brain, a gorilla would have to eat
for an extra two hours a day! Likewise, early humans
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
eating only raw vegetation would have needed to eat
for more than nine hours a day to get enough calories
to support their large brains.
Gathering food was both dangerous and timeconsuming, so it is unlikely that our ancestors had a
completely vegetarian raw diet. When they cooked
their meat, it became easier for them to chew and
therefore to digest and absorb, which increased both
the calories available and the nutritional density of
their diet.
As you’ll see in chapter 3 (which focuses on nutrient
density), meat provides an ideal mix of amino acids,
fats, and vitamins and minerals for brain growth and
maintenance. Vitamin B12 — available only in animal
foods — is particularly important for developing
brains.
It’s possible to survive on these vegan or vegetarian
diets today, but they’re far from optimal or normal
for our species. People choose not to eat meat for
many reasons, including concerns about the ethical
treatment of animals, the amount of resources
depleted in raising animals for consumption, and
religious beliefs. Those are complex issues beyond
the scope of this book. My point is simply that we
may not have become the humans we are without this
nutritious food source.
The Industrial Revolution: Out of the
Frying Pan and into the Fire
The agricultural revolution began humans’ transition
away from sixty-six thousand generations of good
health. But this shift wasn’t really complete until about
six generations ago, when humans reached another
milestone: the Industrial Revolution, which ushered
in a new age of mass production, transportation,
urbanization, and economic development.
Although the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
dates back to the eighteenth century, its dietary effects
didn’t become evident until the late 1800s. Improved
transportation meant greater access to food for
more people. Mass-production methods meant that
items like white flour, table sugar, vegetable oil, dairy
products, and alcohol could become fixtures at every
table. White flour, for example, became widespread
in the United States after 1850, but it didn’t reach
29
the saturation point until the 1890s. People living in
England in the mid-Victorian period, between 1850
and 1890, generally enjoyed great health and still
ate a fairly preindustrial diet. With falling prices and
improved transportation, however, by around 1900,
modern foods made up about 70 percent of the total
calories the average person consumed each day —
a remarkable change when you consider that none
of them was available for the vast majority of human
history.
Stress — chronic, unrelenting — became a fixture
in everyday life. While the Industrial Revolution
undoubtedly improved human health in many ways
(e.g., greater protection against infectious disease
and better emergency medical care), these benefits
did not come without significant cost. We have the
Industrial Revolution to thank for new diseases of
civilization that were rare or virtually nonexistent in
preindustrial cultures:
Another significant change that came with the Industrial
Revolution was a decrease in the diversity of the human
diet around the world. Paleolithic hunter-gatherers
consumed a large variety of plant species, primarily
fruits, tubers, and vegetables, as do their modern
counterparts. (For example, the Alyawarra tribe in
Central Australia consumes ninety-two different plant
species, and the Tlokwa tribe in Botswana a hundred
and twenty-six.) Thanks to improved railways, roads,
and canals, a limited number of crops could be grown
and shipped cheaply to every corner of the planet.
Today, 80 percent of the world’s population lives on
only four principal staple plants: wheat, rice, corn,
and potatoes.
of people above the age of 40 showed evidence
of having had heart attacks, according to an
autopsy study. Today in Uganda, a country
where the Western-style diet has taken hold,
heart disease is the fourth leading cause of
death.
•In Papua New Guinea, heart attacks were
unknown prior to urbanization. Today, the rate
of heart attacks is skyrocketing, with upward of
400,000 heart attacks a year in a population of
5.4 million people.
•Among the Pima Indians in Arizona, the first
confirmed case of diabetes was reported in
1908. Thirty years later, there were twenty-one
cases, and by 1967, the number had risen to
five hundred. Today, half of all adult Pima Indians
have diabetes.
•When some of the South Pacific people of
Tokelau migrated to nearby New Zealand and
switched to a Western diet, they developed
diabetes at three times the rate of those who
had remained in Tokelau.
The food introduced on a large scale by the Industrial
Revolution (and grown with newly invented pesticides
containing toxins) may be cheaper for us, but it isn’t
better. A hundred grams of sweet potato (about half a
potato) contains only about 90 calories, and a hundred
grams (one small serving) of wild-game meat contains
about 150 calories, but both of these foods contain
a wide spectrum of beneficial micronutrients. By
contrast, a hundred grams (less than a cup) of refined
wheat flour contains 361 calories, the same amount
of sugar contains 387 calories, and both have virtually
no beneficial nutrients. A hundred grams of corn oil
(about seven tablespoons), a staple of modern diets,
contains a whopping 881 calories and has essentially
no nutritional value.
Even worse, industrialization completely changed
the way humans lived. In 1800, 90 to 95 percent of
Americans lived in rural areas or in small villages. In
1900, about half the population resided in nonurban
environments. Today, less than 16 percent of all
Americans live in rural areas. People who moved to
cities to work became more sedentary. Longer work
hours meant less time in the sun and less sleep.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
•In the early 1950s in Uganda, only 0.7 percent
As study after study shows, the more Westernized
a traditional culture becomes, the more disease it
experiences. Today obesity, diabetes, heart disease,
and other chronic degenerative conditions affect well
over a billion people worldwide and kill millions of
people each year. It may be nearly impossible for you
to imagine life without these disorders. Yet they’ve
been common for only the past two hundred or so
years, a tiny fraction of the time humans have existed
on the planet.
We’re Still Evolving
I’ve argued that humans are mismatched with an
agricultural diet because the environment changed
faster than our species’ genes and biology could adapt.
30
But this doesn’t mean that we haven’t developed any
adaptations to agriculture or that human evolution
stopped in the Paleolithic era.
In fact, the pace of genetic change in humans has
actually increased during the past few thousand years.
Evolutionary biologist Scott Williamson suggests
that evolution is occurring one hundred times faster
than its previous average over the six million years
of hominid evolution and that as much as 10 percent
of the genome shows evidence of recent evolution
in European Americans, African Americans, and
Chinese.
This rapid increase in genetic change has been driven
by two factors, say anthropologists Gregory Cochran
and Henry Harpending in their book The 10,000 Year
Explosion:
•A significant change in environment, which
increased the selective pressure to adapt to it
•A dramatic increase in population, which
increased the likelihood that adaptive mutations
would arise by chance
If there’s a new source of slightly indigestible food
available to a population that lacks abundant food
sources, there will be a lot of selective pressure for
the species to adapt so they are able to consume that
food. That’s exactly what happened with milk. For most
of our species’ history, humans produced lactase, the
enzyme that helps digest the milk sugar, only during
infancy and early childhood. Since mother’s milk was
the only lactose-containing food in the human diet at
that time, there was simply no need for children to
continue making lactase after they stopped breastfeeding, which was at about age four for most huntergatherers.
However, this all changed with the dawn of the
agricultural revolution and the domestication of
cattle, which made cow’s milk a readily available food
source. Early farmers who relied heavily on grains were
prone to mineral, especially calcium, deficiencies.
Their skeletons, shorter than their hunter-gatherer
predecessors’, indicated they also probably lacked
vitamin D, which plays a role in skeletal development.
Milk is rich in calcium, contains some vitamin D, is
a complete protein, and may promote growth during
childhood. It also provided hydration and sustenance
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
during periods of drought. Individuals who carried a
genetic mutation allowing them to digest milk beyond
their breast-feeding years would have been favored by
natural selection, and their genes would have spread
rapidly through farming populations.
In fact, archaeological evidence and gene-mapping
studies suggest that a genetic mutation that allowed
the continued production of lactase into adulthood
originated about eight thousand years ago somewhere
in Europe and spread rapidly thereafter. Today,
approximately one-third of the global population
produces lactase into adulthood. In cattle-herding
tribes in East Africa, like the Tutsi, the rate is up to 90
percent. In some Northern European countries, like
Denmark and Sweden, the genes are present in up to
95 percent of people.
There are several other relatively recent changes —
genetic and otherwise— that have influenced our
response to modern foods. For example:
•Populations with historically high starch intake
produce more amylase in their saliva than
populations with lower starch intake. Amylase is
an enzyme that helps digest starch and glucose,
both of which are forms of carbohydrates.
•New versions of genes that affect insulin and
blood-sugar regulation have also arisen in the
relatively recent past. These mutations appear
to increase carbohydrate tolerance and reduce
the likelihood that a higher-carbohydrate diet
will lead to problems like diabetes.
•Changes in the expression of certain genes
(which can happen much faster than changes
to the underlying genes themselves) may help
some populations that rely on grains as staples
to process them more effectively.
•Finally, changes in the gut microbiota —
the beneficial microorganisms that live in
our digestive tracts — can directly affect
one’s ability to assimilate certain nutrients.
Researchers have identified a type of bacteria
in the colon of Japanese people that produces
an enzyme that helps them digest seaweed (nori
in particular). And some studies suggest that
lactose intolerance can be eliminated simply by
eating increasing amounts of yogurt containing
live bacteria, which can naturally metabolize
lactose.
31
So, our bodies have adapted in some ways to the
challenges of an agricultural diet. Human innovation
has also helped. As I mentioned in the previous section,
cereal grains and legumes contain phytates, which
bond with zinc, iron, calcium, and other minerals. The
human gut is unable to break these bonds, which
means that it’s difficult for us to absorb the minerals
from grains. But traditional cultures soaked grains
and grain flours in an acid medium (such as whey or
lemon juice), fermented them, germinated (sprouted)
them, or leavened them (for example, baking bread
with natural sourdough starter), which significantly
reduced their phytate content and thus made the
minerals they contained more bioavailable (that is,
easier to absorb).
Will Evolution Catch Up to Western
Diets?
Humans, it would seem, are well adapted to Paleolithic
foods like meat, vegetables, fruits, and tubers because
our species has been eating them for millennia, and
the evidence shows human health declined with the
introduction of agricultural foods. However, the fact
that a food wasn’t available during the Paleolithic era
doesn’t necessarily mean we should avoid it entirely
today. The genetic and cultural changes I’ve described
above occurred (at least in part) to help humans adapt
to an agricultural diet, and they do influence how
individuals tolerate Neolithic foods. This explains why
some people are able to include moderate amounts of
dairy, grains, and/or legumes in their diets — especially
when these foods are predigested by fermenting,
soaking, sprouting, or leavening — without ill effect.
(I’ll have more to say on this topic later in the book.)
But these genetic changes don’t mean we can eat
a diet high in cereal grains and low in animal protein
without adverse health consequences. These
adaptations are often simple mutations of single
genes and can be relatively crude. For example, the
mutation that enables people to digest milk beyond
childhood simply breaks the genetic switch that is
supposed to turn off lactase production after infancy.
This rather haphazard fix reflects the short time frame
in which it took place; it’s much easier for the body
to break something that already exists than to create
something new.
Eventually, it’s at least possible that humans could
evolve a more complex adaptation (involving the
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
coordinated action of several different genes) to
a grain-heavy diet. This might include changes in
the gastrointestinal tract that would allow better
absorption of the nutrients in grains. But even if such
an adaptation occurred, it wouldn’t change the fact
that grains are far less nutrient dense than meats, fish,
and vegetables — the staple foods of our Paleolithic
ancestors. This is especially true when you take into
account the bioavailability of nutrients, which is high
in animal products and low in grains.
For these reasons, the best approach is to make
the Paleolithic foods our species evolved to eat the
foundation of your diet and then personalize it from
there depending on your own unique combination of
genetics, health status, activity level, life circumstances,
and goals. That’s exactly what I’m going to show you
how to do, starting in the very next chapter.
Obviously, a lot has changed since our Paleo ancestors
roamed the earth, and most of us aren’t living like
the contemporary hunter-gatherer populations
I’ve mentioned in this section. How do we know
their lifestyle is our best option today? Beyond the
considerable anthropological record, there are several
lines of modern, clinical evidence supporting the
health benefits of a Paleo-template diet and lifestyle.
These include:
•The high nutrient density of Paleo foods
•The minimal presence of toxins and antinutrients
in Paleo foods
•The superior balance of fats in a Paleo diet
•The beneficial effects of the Paleo diet on gut
bacteria
•The benefits of integrating physical activity
throughout the day and minimizing sedentary
time, the way our Paleo ancestors did
•The benefits of sleeping at least seven to eight
hours a night and minimizing exposure to
artificial light (although the latter was something
our Paleo ancestors never had to contend with)
•The benefits of sun exposure (which go beyond
vitamin D) and spending time outdoors
•The importance of pleasure, play, and social
connection
I’ll cover each of these — and much more — in Steps
1 and 2. Again, the good news is that we don’t have
to live in caves or roam the earth for food to enjoy the
32
benefits of a Paleo-style diet. And there’s no need to
run to a geneticist to see if you have the right alleles
to digest milk or wheat.
Your Personal Paleo Code will lead you to the perfect
diet. For now, I hope I’ve convinced you that a Paleo
template is the right place to begin.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Chris Kresser is a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of
integrative medicine. He did his undergraduate work at UC
Berkeley, and graduated from the Acupuncture and Integrative
Medicine College in Berkeley. Kresser has a private practice in
Berkeley, CA, and also consults with patients throughout the
U.S. www.chriskresser.com
Ready? Let’s get started!
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
33
COOKING
WITH SCOTTY
SCOTT
HAGNAS
Basic Meal Template
This really isn’t a recipe; it’s a simple way to begin to
cook without needing a recipe. For some of you, this
is already a no-brainer and you can move along and
read something else. However, I know there are a lot
of you out there who are still fairly new to cooking and
still follow exact recipes most of the time.
It’s really a natural progression. The more you cook,
the more you’ll be able to create things on your own.
This creates efficiency in the kitchen as well. No
longer do you need to check your recipes and then
go to the store to get what you need. You can simply
take stock of what you have on hand, and then get to
work cooking.
Of course, having certain staples on hand can really
add to your options. For newer cooks, or those who
are short on time (but still want to eat well), here are
some shortcuts. Let’s start with a list of things to try
to have on hand:
• onions
• garlic
• sweet potatoes or potatoes
• chicken, beef, or veggie stock (broth)
• coconut milk
• pre-prepared sauces* - marinara sauce, curries,
plum sauce, Tamari, etc. (While technically processed,
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
and maybe not 100 percent legit, these can really add
options and save time. If you look, you can usually
find some pretty clean versions if that’s important to
you. Just be sure to check that the sauces you buy
are free of ingredients you may wish to avoid.)
• a variety of spices - dried herbs, cinnamon, curry
powder, allspice, taco seasoning, star anise - the
more options, the better!
While this is not an exhaustive list, it gives you a
great deal of meal options with the same set of base
ingredients. Let’s say you look at what you have on
hand and see that you have ground beef, celery, and
cabbage. Doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it?
Now, let’s see what you might be able to do with these
ingredients if you have the above staples on hand and
use a little creativity. Some examples follow:
Curry: Brown the beef and set aside. Sauté some
onions, and then add chopped celery and cabbage.
Now, add coconut milk and diced potatoes: bring to a
boil and simmer. Add curry powder, a dash of cayenne
pepper, and black pepper to taste. Add the beef and
cook until done.
Another curry option: do the same as above, but use
a bottle of curry sauce instead of the coconut milk
and spices.
Taco salad: Sauté the onions and garlic in tallow or
34
coconut oil. Add the beef and
taco seasonings, and sauté
until browned. (Cumin, cilantro,
and oregano will work if you
don’t have taco seasoning.)
Chop the cabbage. Serve the
taco meat over the cabbage.
(Yes, other veggies would be
ideal for a taco salad, but in
this example, you are trying to
avoid a trip to the store!)
• 1 cup cilantro
• 1-3 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• sea salt
• 1 large sweet potato or potato,
peeled and diced
• 32 oz. chicken or beef stock
• 1 lb. diced chicken (or your
choice of meat - almost
anything will work in this
recipe)
Asian-inspired sauté: start
as above, but add Tamari soy
sauce and star anise instead.
Add chopped cabbage and
sliced celery. Sauté until the Curry
veggies have softened.
Preheat your broiler. Chop the
onion and bell peppers, and
then toss with the tallow on a
baking sheet. Broil for several
minutes until the veggies
are lightly charred and have
softened. Remove and allow to
Marinara and veggies: Sauté onions and garlic in
tallow or coconut oil. Add the beef, and sauté until
browned. Slice the cabbage into thin strips. Add
this to the beef along with marinara sauce. Simmer
until the meat is done and the cabbage has softened
some.
Soup: Brown the beef and set aside. Sauté some
onions, then add chopped celery and cabbage. Now,
add beef stock (chicken or veggie will work too) and
bring to a simmer. After five minutes, add the meat
back in, along with sea salt, pepper, and oregano;
continue to simmer until the veggies have softened
some.
Above are only six options - there are plenty more.
In some cases, maybe you won’t have the ideal
ingredients for your dish. The right sauces or
seasonings can save the day and make your meal
both tasty and nutritious.
cool some.
Place the roasted veggies, along with the tomatoes,
cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, and salt, into a blender.
Process until smooth.
Peel and dice your choice of potato into ½-inch cubes.
In a large saucepan, combine the potato, chicken,
and stock and bring to a boil. Simmer until the potato
begins to soften. Add the blended veggie mix and
cook for five or so minutes more, until the chicken is
done.
Nutritional info: 3 servings at 34g carb, 27g protein,
18g fat. (This will vary with choice of potato & meat.)
Chestnut, Apple, and
Carrot Sauté
Spicy Veggie Soup
I use commercially available pre-cooked chestnuts
in this recipe. Look in better markets for fresh
chestnuts.
Time: 30 minutes
Time: 20 minutes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and
chopped
• beef tallow
• 2 diced tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. grass-fed butter (or tallow)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 lbs. carrots, sliced thin
• 1 apple, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 3/4 cup chopped chestnuts
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
35
• 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• sea salt
Bring the butter to medium heat in a small skillet.
Sauté the onions for a few minutes. Add the carrots
and sauté until they begin to soften. Add the apple
and sauté for a few minutes more. Finally, add the
chestnuts and sauté for three to four minutes. Then
add the vinegar and salt. Place in a bowl and serve
warm.
Discuss this article on the Performance Menu website!
Scott Hagnas is owner of CrossFit Portland. He is certified
as a CrossFit level 2 trainer and Circular Strength Training
(clubbell) instructor. He has been riding BMX flatland for 26
years and counting and has filmed/produced/edited several
series of BMX videos, plus several training videos. He formerly
competed in bicycle trials, placing second in amateur in the
World Championships in 1990. Cooking is one of his favorite
pastimes.
Chestnut prep:
If you found fresh chestnuts, you can prep them for
this recipe by first cutting an “X” into the flat bottoms
of each nut. Bring them to a boil in a pan of water for a
few minutes, and then remove from the heat. Carefully
remove nuts one at a time to peel. (Keep them warm,
because they get hard to peel as they cool!)
Nutritional info: 4 servings at 27g carb, 11g fat.
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
36
News, Results & Events from the World of Competitive Weightlifting
WEIGHTLIFTING NEWS
2013 American Open
Upcoming Events
The 2013 American Open in Dallas, Texas was the largest competition in USAW history with
over 400 lifters participating. All
Results can be found in the following pages.
2014 Junior National Championships
Aurora, Colorado - January 31 - February 2
Webcast Link
2014 Senior National Championships
Salt Lake City, Utah – July 17-20 2014
News Post
USA Weightlifting Certification Courses
View Calendar
NEW AMERICAN RECORDS
Youth Divisions
Alexandra Thornton (44kg – 13& Under – Spoon Barbell): Snatch
(43kg), Clean & Jerk (53kg) – Total (96kg)
Olivia Perez (53kg – 14-15 – Club Boris): Snatch (59kg)
Bret Pfieffer (50kg – 14-15 – Charleston WLC): Snatch (64kg),
Clean & Jerk (84kg), Total (146kg)
CJ Cummings (62kg – 13&Under – Team Savannah): Clean & Jerk
(131kg)
Mason Groehler (69kg – 16-17 – Wisconsin): Snatch (115kg),
Harrison Maurus (69kg – 13&Under – Outlaw Barbell): Snatch
(88kg)
Tom Summa (77kg – 16-17 – Kirkwood Weightlifting): Snatch
(123kg)
Nathan Damron (77kg – 16-17 – Club Boris): Clean & Jerk (152kg)
and Total (275kg)
Junior Division
D’Angelo Osorio (94kg – Junior – Hasslefree Barbell): Clean &
Jerk (195kg)
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
37
2013 american open: catalyst athletics
Catalyst Athletics was in attendance at the 2013
American Open with 11 lifters:
48 kg – Heather Snethen, Jes Liao
53 kg – Audra Dunning
63 kg – Alyssa Sulay
69 kg – Chyna Cho
75 kg – Kara Doherty
75+ kg – Tamara Solari, Tamara Holmes
69 kg – Blake Barnes
85 kg – Zack Height
105 kg – Greg Everett
This was the largest meet in USAW history, with over
400 lifters. This is great in one sense—it shows that
interest and participation is growing—but problematic
in a few—such as the fact that it’s extremely difficult
to run a meet with this many lifters, it results in sessions that have terribly long waits for lifters in between
their attempts, and it’s chaotic for lifters, coaches and
spectators. Overall, it went better than I expected, but
the situation was far from as good as it should have
been for both athletes and coaches.
The weekend was also complicated by the fact that
Dallas was experiencing a serious freeze and airline
traffic in and out was limited—many athletes’ flights
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
were cancelled or rescheduled, and a significant number of them were unable to make it. Our own Tamara
Solari barely made it there.
In any case, our lifters did pretty well, and our women
won the team silver medal for the second year in a
row. Individual medals included bronze in the snatch
for Kara Doherty, and bronze in the snatch and clean
& jerk and silver overall for Tamara Solari.
Our first lifter on Friday was Audra Dunning, lifting at
her first national meet. She made 4/6 lifts, and I would
argue only missed the 2 because of the ridiculous
wait times she had between her attempts—she actually had to come back to the warm-up room and do
waves back up to her next attempt in the snatch each
time. She made a 73 kg clean on her final attempt, but
couldn’t quite make the jerk.
Next were Alyssa and Zack. Both had rough times
again with waits between attempts, and both struggled with snatches. Zack snatched 120, and then
came back strong in the clean & jerk with 150. Alyssa
missed her opening snatch at 70 twice behind, then
made it on her last attempt. She smoked her opening clean & jerk at 88, and then after a very long wait,
cleaned 91 twice easily but couldn’t quite get the
jerk.
38
Tamara Holmes and I lifted in the last session on Friday. Tamara did 70/92, and I did 140/165.
Saturday started with Heather and Jes. Jes smoked
all three snatches up to 54, and all her cleans were
easy, but she was getting extremely dizzy and only
made her second jerk at 63. Heather made a great
56 kg snatch, and then had the whole room going
nuts about her jerk at 72 after a serious fight with the
clean. Later, Blake made an easy 102 snatch opener,
but then couldn’t quite get his second and third with
107. He came back strong and clean & jerked 135 on
his second attempt.
On Sunday, Chyna had a tough time with snatches
but made an easy 73 and clean & jerked 94. Kara had
the snatch save of the night on her last attempt at 85,
which secured her the bronze medal in the snatch and
gave her 3/3 on snatches. She clean & jerked 99 and
barely missed the jerk on her final attempt at 101.
the bronze in the snatch. She then made an easy
120 clean & jerk opener to secure her the overall silver medal. Due to complications with the officials
(the clock wasn’t stopped properly during a weight
change), she had to rush out to her second clean &
jerk at 125, and still nearly made it. After a very short
break, she cleaned 127 easily and jerked it, but she
received 2 red lights, presumably for a pressout that I
wasn’t able to see from where I stood to her side.
The officials mistakenly gave our team’s second place
award to another team because they had forgotten
to include us in the team points calculations, but this
was corrected and we should be receiving the correct
plaque soon.
It was a very long, exhausting weekend for everyone,
but once again, the Catalyst Athletics lifters did a
great job performing even in the less than ideal, and
often very bad, circumstances.
Tamara Solari also had a bad snatch day, only making one attempt at 88, but it was good enough for
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
39
RESULTS: 2013 AMERICAN OPEN
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
40
TEAM ABBREVIATION KEY
T23
T42
ACC
ARW
BBB
BLZ
BLO
BRK
CAS
CAL
CTA
CKW
CHA
CHF
CST
CIN
239 Weightlifting
423 Strength & Conditioning
Accel Sports
Arena Ready Weightlifting
Bare Bones Barbell
Blaze Weightlifting
Bloomington Barbell
Breakaway Weightlifting
California Strength
Calpians WLC
Catalyst Athletics
Central Kentucky Weightlifting
Charleston Weightlifting
CHFP Weightlifting
Chicago Strength
Cincinatti Weightlifting Club
CBO
CEW
COF
COL
X14
XAC
XHU
XIH
XRI
XSL
DMS
DPP
DYN
EAW
ECG
EVX
ELY
FLT
FPX
FVB
Club Boris
Coastal Empire Weightlifting
Coffee’s Gym
Columbus Weightlifting
CrossFit 140 Strength Club
Crossfit Acclaim
CrossFit Huntsville
CrossFit Iron Horse
CrossFit Rise
CrossFit San Leandro
Des Moines Strength Institute
Drive, Pop-Punch Weightlifting
Dynamic Fitness
East Alabama Weightlifting
East Coast Gold WLC
East Valley CrossFit
Elysium Barbell
Flatirons Weightlifting
Force Praxium
Fort Vancouver Barbell
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
FRX
FSC
FRW
FUB
GAS
HAT
GBW
GIW
HFB
HFG
HDA
HOO
HUS
IBB
INV
JRZ
JPP
KIR
LBH
LIB
FRCF Weightlifting
Frisco Barbell
Front Range WLC
FUBarbell
Garage Strength
Gayle Hatch WLC
Golden Bear Weightlifting
Grass Iron Weightlifting
Hasslefree Barbell Club
Have Fun, Get Strong
High Desert Athletics
Hoosier Weightlifting
Huskerland Weightlifting
Industrious Barbell
Invictus Athlete Weightlifting
J.R.’z Training Hall
Jon Anderson’s Power Plant
Kirkwood WLC
LBH of NYC Dept of Parks
Liberty Barbell
41
TEAM ABBREVIATION KEY
LIN
LIT
LIV
LSU
MAD
MAR
MAS
MAX
MET
MIC
MID
MIS
MOO
NSX
NMW
OUT
OVB
PAB
PF1
PIN
PBB
PCB
PSA
RAI
RAL
RZP
Lindenwood Lions
Littleton Barbell
Livefree Weightlifting
LSU Shreveport
Madtown WLC
Marysville Barbell
Mash Elite Weightlifting
Max’s Gym
Metropolitan Elite
Michigan Barbell
Midtown Barbell
Mission Barbell
Moorestown WLC
North Shore CrossFit
Northern Michigan WLC
Outlaw Barbell
Overtake Barbell
Palo Alto Barbell
Performance One
Pinnacle Weightlifting
Pittsburgh BBC
Port City Barbell
Power Sports Athletics
Raider Weightlifting
Raleigh Weightlifting
Razor’s Edge Pensacola
RED
ROB
RUB
SBX
SAY
SIG
SPB
SBC
STO
STR
SUP
TAL
T21
TAD
TXU
FLA
FLG
FLO
FLV
GEO
HER
HOU
KYZ
LAB
LIB
MDU
MIN
MON
Redding Barbell
Robinson Weightlifting
Rubber City Weightlifting
Sandbox Weightlifting
Sayre Park WLC
Signal Hill Weightlifting
Spoon Barbell
Stone and Barbell Club
Stoneage Weightlifting
Strongpoint Barbell
Superior Athletic Advantage
Tallahassee (Florida)
Team 210 Weightlifting
Team Advantage
Team CrossFit Utah
Team Florida Altamonte
Team Florida Gulf Coast
Team Florida Orlando
Team Florida Volusia County
Team Georgia Weightlifting
Team Hercules
Team Houston
Team Kyrgyzstan
Team LAB
Team Lebanon
Team MDUSA
Team Minnesota
Team Montana
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
NEP
TNJ
PAS
PEN
PRX
SAV
TSC
TEX
TMX
TBB
TIT
TRI
TWC
UNA
UWW
VWL
VEN
WAX
WAC
WES
WPY
WRB
WWL
WCW
YAS
DNA
SCW
Team Nepal
Team New Jersey
Team Pasco
Team Pendragon
Team Praxis
Team Savannah
Team Southern California
Team Texas
Temple of Exertion
Texas Barbell
Titan Weightlifting
Trident Athletics
Twin City Barbell
Unattached
University of Wisconsin Whitewater
Vaughn Weightlifting
Venice Barbell Club
Waxman’s Gym
Weightlifting Academy
Wesley Weightlifters
West Park YMCA
White Rose Barbell
Wilkes Weightlifting
Windy City Weightlifting
Yard Athletic Strength
DNA Weightlifting
Sun Coast Weightlifting
42
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
43
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
44
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
45
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
46
ISSUE 108 / JANUARY 2014 THE PERFORMANCE MENU
47
ERFORMANCE MEN
SUBSCRIPTION
Visit www.performancemenu.com/subscribe/ for more
information and to subscribe online.
AFFILIATE
Earn commissions on subscriptions you refer with our affiliate program. Sign up at www.performancemenu.com/
affiliate/
DISCUSS
Post comments and discuss your favorite articles at
www.performancemenu.com.
BACK ISSUES & ARTICLES
Back issues and individual articles are available at
www.performancemenu.com.
COMMUNITY
Join the community and the discussions at the Catalyst
Athletics training and nutrition forums.
TRAINING
Check out the Catalyst Athletics daily training program at
www.catalystathletics.com/workouts/.
Like us on
Facebook
Follow us
on Twitter
Subscribe to
our channel
Subscribe to
our Newsletter