At DNA, we advocate real diets made of real food. We have considered offering protein powders and other supplements, but we just don’t support the consumption of lab-made products. Many are toxic offer all kinds of health pitfalls; additives ranging from corn to artificial colors should not be in your body, and over time, they may lead to a range of issues, whether or not the FDA approves. Dyes have even been linked to ADHD in kids.

Vitamins are one controversial area; science explains why they don’t work, studies have shown no benefit, and they are usually delivered with corn starch and other nasty fillers. Vitamin D (needed for calcium absorption) requires sunlight for production. Drinking milk won’t do the job as the concentrations are low, and dairy has its own problems, especially commercial (not organic) milk. Each vitamin plays a role in the amazing system of your body, and real food generally has the best mix of the right chemicals to optimize your body’s function and composition.

Some people like the convenience of protein shakes after a workout. Many commercial varieties are packed with fillers and sugars, including corn starch, so if you decide to go this route, read the labels carefully. Even the “clean” brands have sweeteners. Here are the labels from Progenex (left) and Gold Standard Whey in Vanilla (right):

Both are sweet, triggering an addictive response that makes you want more sweetness. Gold Standard has a few chemicals, but nowhere near as many as Muscle Milk. What’s your best bet after a workout? Chicken and a sweet potato? Probably. (One of our clients used to swear by chocolate ice cream, but that’s another story.)

Fish oil may be one supplement that can actually do some good. Omega-3′s have a whole slew of health benefits, and few people eat enough fish to take full advantage. We assert that there is no single dietary silver bullet, as foods are rarely consumed in isolation and activity matters, but you probably can’t go wrong by taking fish oil tablets. By the way, Atlantic salmon is often genetically modified, unsustainable, and fed pellets that make it dietary garbage – like corn-fed, hormone-injected, stockyard beef, it should be avoided. Alaskan salmon is fine, and you should always choose wild-caught fish. But I digress.

Bottom lines:

• Eat real food, choose organic sources whenever possible, and consider adding some fish oil.
• Get sunlight regularly – go without sunblock for half an hour; it’s tough to balance vitamin D production with skin cancer prevention in Southern Arizona, so pay attention and don’t overdo it.
• Always read the labels! If a product has more than 4 lines of ingredients and any are unpronounceable, it’s not a real food so you probably should not eat it. This rule goes for any supplements too.

Back in the Day…

Once upon a time, I was a grad student and a member of the UA Tricats. My husband went to Qatar for 4 months, and I proceeded to race my ass off. I was a Cat 4 cyclist, a runner, a triathlete, and even did a bunch of splash and dash races – often more than once per week. I got pretty fast with all of those high-intensity efforts, but I was nowhere near as strong then as I am now.

In triathlon, I usually placed in my age group. Here’s my line from the Firecracker Tri in July of 2004:

  13    2 30 0212 JOHNSON      ANNE         0:13:36    0:35:05    0:23:18    1:11:59

That’s 13th of women, 2nd in age group, with a 13:36 swim (800m), 35:05 bike (12 miles), and 23:18 5k. Not bad.

I just signed up for Firecracker again, 9 years and 2 kids later with almost 5 years of CrossFit / Kettlebells and 3 years of paleo eating under my belt. I am NOT going to do any specific training for this race. None. Nada!! I will hit the water on July 7th with whatever swimming and biking I happen to do for fun between now and then, and we will see how I do against my 30-year-old self.

I bet she’s going down. My running is a small bit slower than it was 10-15 minutes ago, but I bet strength will do the job.

Have you tried racing your old self lately? I challenge you to give it a try! Pick a race you did ages ago, and just sign up. Don’t second guess. Just do it. Let’s make an unscientific group experiment out of it. Who’s in??

I just returned from my two-week USAF Annual Tour in San Antonio. I didn’t tell many people where I was going, or said I was off to Fiesta, which was great despite questionable weather.

San Antonio is a lot like Tucson – similar vibe, similar mix of people, great food, more water (humidity and a river), and great pace of life. Tucson’s mountains are prettier, and San Antonio has more grass. We have San Xavier del Bac, they have the Alamo. Great margaritas and salsa in both places. It’s an easy transition.

I also really like my USAF job, which I won’t explain too much except to tell you what I was doing for the last two weeks. The Air Force issued guidance last fall disallowing CrossFit and other “extreme conditioning program” group classes in their fitness centers. Never mind that the Army and Marines have fully embraced CrossFit, and that over 30 AF bases have programs, not to mention scads of people doing P90X videos in a group; the physiologists have spoken, and the service is risk-averse. I collected a bunch of data that showed minimal injury rates and loads of results. In the end, I am not sure whether my work succeeded or not, but I learned a few interesting tidbits along the way.

1. Strength and work capacity trump aerobic capacity any day.

I don’t run much anymore. I used to run 25 miles per week, more in marathon training season, and I ran 5k in about 23:30 on average. I won the Sports Day 5k (for females, anyway) in 22:46 with no special running training, against dedicated runners. I say this not to brag (yeah!) but to point out the value of strength for all-out efforts, and that run was definitely all-out.

2. Many people focus on the wrong metrics.

The Air Force exercise physiologists tend to obsess over VO2 max as the holy grail of fitness. VO2 max measures aerobic capacity. At DNA, we know that work capacity is a better measure of fitness than VO2 max, which is why our benchmarks include plenty of strength – 5RM, 3RM, 1RM, and fun times like the DNA Total and Dave’s 5-5-1 (5 min snatch test / 5 min double unders / 1 mile run. ) I also don’t buy morbidity as a metric for health outcomes, but that’s another discussion.

3. The Air Force has a long way to go to close the loop on nutrition and fitness.

People like their junk food, and food is usually tied with religion and culture. Some people are religious about their food. Therefore, the fitness people tiptoe around the idea of suggesting changes to dietary habits. They are going out of their way to put the healthy foods up front in the dining halls and make it easier for Airmen to choose the salad over the burger, but the burger is still definitely there, and I don’t get the impression that the courage is present to flat out tell people that if they eat better, they will feel and perform better, and the opposite too (if you eat like sh*t…) I’m not saying that the other services have nailed this one either, but it’s an area for improvement.

4. The power of the group dynamic is real, but you have to try it to understand it.

The service just dumped $2m on Fitness on Request, which is a kiosk system with videos and a virtual instructor, who can’t correct, coach, or cheer you on. I’m interested to see how well it works. In the hurry to spend expiring money, somehow the customer demand got lost, particularly the crescendo of voices who want the community of a hard group workout – not a machine. The truth is hard to quantify, as noted by Glassman; others have written about the motivation of CrossFit, but bottom line is that some activities are most fun in a group, and people like to be with other people, especially when sharing suffering. The intangible magic behind group training at DNA and thousands of CrossFit affiliates, as well as martial art centers, sports teams, and military training facilities, and law enforcement academies drives us beyond our perceived limits, making us stronger and more confident as we encourage our suffer-mates to their own victories. Nobody seems to have a clue how to include this powerful factor in a business case spreadsheet, but it’s the not-so-secret to creating a strong organization and should not be ignored.

5. It’s much more fun and easy to work your tail off when you’re immersed in a subject about which you are passionate.

Self-explanatory!

6. Never take good equipment for granted.

I ripped my thumb on some nasty pull up bars, swung and snatched kettlebells with polished stainless handles, and attempted to clean a non-Olympic (non-spinning) bar, before I found some decent ones to lift. We’re spoiled by having all the nice toys in one playroom.

7. Recess is awesome.

In talking with lots of AF people who use CrossFit and similar programs daily, I realized that we all love recess, and that an hour in the gym is happy time (well, mostly). I figured this out a while back and it led to a career change, but it’s amusing to recognize how many people still love to go play with their friends, even if it involves a lot of effort.

Anyway, it’s good to be back. I missed the DNA crew and was ready for a break. We’ll see what comes out of my two weeks of fun; I just hope that the “chair force” moves further down the fitness road and embraces group strength training, realizing that it’s not “extreme” – it’s “essential” for great quality of life and overall fitness.

DNA knows that teachers are overworked and underpaid, and many teachers put the kids first all year.  Summer is just around the corner, and we have a special package just for teachers. Want details? Visit dnapersonaltraining.com/summerschool  for the 411!

Tell teachers you know – share the link with them and get them on the road to elite fitness this summer!

Many of our clients own or work for great businesses, and we love to help clients, especially when they have a fun event planned. Shout out #1 today goes to Dehnert Dental, who can make your dental visit as fun as possible. People don’t usually think of a cleaning or filling as a fun event, but you get to see our awesome clients John, LeeAat, Tawnya, and Erica there, and they will take great care of you. They’re located just a mile from DNA, at 3945 E. Fort Lowell Rd., Suite #209 (upstairs near Rep. Barber’s office, but they were there first). You can also visit them on the web at http://www.dehnertdental.com/home.htm. Thanks to the Dehnert Dental crew for being fantastic clients!!

Shout out #2 is for George, who runs Mexican restaurant El Cisne, at Swan and Sunrise, when he’s not working on his pullups.  They are hosting a Cinco de Mayo celebration, complete with mariachi, Mexican beers, and the Patron Tequila team (um…cheat day!) on May 4th-5th! Get more info and register HERE, or stop by El Cisne for details. I recommend getting the shrimp or chicken topopo at lunch – delicious! Enjoy!