Is the Sauna good for recovery?

This week we have a question from Brian, one that has had me go out and do some reading to ensure I gave the best answer.

Here’s what Brian asks:

“A question? Do you rate saunas as a recovery aid?

I've recently started using one about 5 times a week after exercise and notice that I'm definitely not as sore as I used to be.

In fact all my old shoulder stiffness is practically gone. Perhaps the 10 minute lazy swim that follows also helps.

Brian”

Good question

The simple answer is blood flow.

The sauna increases your body temperature so you push blood out to the muscles and extremities to try and cool.

This brings Nutrition and carries away any waste from the muscle cells, which is exactly what we need for healing/recovery.

It has been shown in studies that “sauna bathing” can raise the heart rate and has been recorded as high as 150 BPM, although that does seem to be in response to extreme sauna heat.

But raising the heart rate to the 100 BPM and up is not uncommon.

This is due to increased cardiac output, i.e. the heart is pushing harder. There seems to be no change in stroke volume which is how much blood is pushed per beat.

You are pumping the blood faster around the body, mostly towards the surface, away from the internal organs.

Sounds a lot like cardio to me!

The heat and humidity opens the lungs making breathing easier, blood is pumped around the extremities by a heart beating at a rate of 100- 150 BPM.

That is aerobic training.

In fact, the only real warnings I could find contraindicating the use of saunas was for those people with cardiac type problems. But in some of the research, this is questioned as there doesn’t seem to be evidence for linking deaths in a post sauna window with pre existing heart problems. So the advice is precautionary, but it’s up to you whether you take heed of it or not.

What is a factor in deaths post sauna?

Alcohol.

Take from that what you will.

So what about Brian’s shoulder?

We actually do not know.

While the research does show people with rheumatoid arthritis report feeling improvements after sauna use, there’s simply nothing to explain why.

We can suppose, we can make guesses. But we can’t say for definite why our hero is finding his shoulder issues improve.

So what can we suppose?

Is the swim helping as our hero suggests?

I would say so. Movement helps almost all things.

The sauna?

Well, let’s look at the common ground between movement and sauna.

And that is, at the most basic, the lowest common denominator, blood flow.

Blood carries all the nutrition, all the oxygen, the amino acids and so on.

The difference between movement and sauna is maybe the tissue stimulation.

Joints like to move, the synovial fluid is akin to oil lubricating the joints.

However, if movement is an issue, perhaps sauna gives many of the same benefits, without the risk of aggravating the tissues.

And then there are these things called “Heat Shock Proteins”

These are basically stress proteins, they respond to temperature change be it heat or cold. As well as other forms of environmental stress, be that illness, inflammation, oxygen debt and more.

These proteins are complex little buggers. But in essence they make sure everything is working as best it can.

They ensure regular proteins cross the cell barriers, they carry away broken/dead cells and have a direct effect on the immune system.

Here’s the interesting thing, because they stimulate the immune system, promoting healing, this can also spark an autoimmune response. But, and this is fascinating, this increase in immune response can potentially reduce the autoimmune diseases power as it gets “bored” of the upregulation of the immune system.

Kind of a graduated exposure treatment, like used by CBT practitioners for phobias and the like.

This is all good in theory, we still know very little for definite. At least as far as I can see.

So, long story short, are saunas good?

Well, unless you have heart issues or you’re pregnant, there seems to be absolutely no downsides.

And as I often tell folk, if you believe it is helping you, then it is helping you.

Above we’ve looked at some of the maybe’s for how it might be helping, but that’s not nearly as important as you believing it helps.

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

The Myth of Exercising for Fat Loss

This question came in from Tony:

“Any weight training regime for weight loss, or perhaps bulk loss a better way to frame it.”

And on reading it a can of worms opened in my brain.

So I have to talk about this in this weeks newsletter, and more importantly, why the question is wrong.

First of all, I did advise Tony that weight loss is about calorie deficit, so adjusting the diet is the change he is most needing.

Then do 3x full body workouts per week and change happens.

Over my whole career as a coach I have refused to train people for the purpose of fat loss.

That doesn't mean folk haven't trained with me with that as at least part of their goals to meet.

One of the most dramatic changes I ever saw was a lad who had 30 minutes to train on his lunch breaks.

He did three workouts, 10 min warm up, 15 minutes strength, shower and out.

He quit the drink

And in 3 months was unrecognisable.

He trained 3 times per week. A total of 45 minutes per week spent on his work sets.

This was less than his previous attendance when he had longer and did a greater number of exercises.

But what he did do was:

Fully commit to 3 sessions per week.

Cut out drinking alcohol midweek.

Was more conscious of food choices.

Tracked lifting progress

The training saw him get stronger and put on some muscle.

The calorie reduction and improvement in food quality is what put him in a deficit and stripped away the fat.

His program was based on Escalating Density Training, one of my favourite methods, especially for those short on time.

He did a 2 exercise superset, upper body lift paired with a lower body lift, on a 15 minute timer.

Tallying up the total reps lifted of each exercise within the time limit.

Next week, he'd attempt to do at least 1 extra rep.

After a 25ish % rep increase from starting with the weight, he would increase the load and start over.

I've written on this method a lot, it's the brain child of Coach Charles Staley and is such an elegant way to train. But it’s not the focus of today’s newsletter

In reality, I could have given Matt any program at all.

It wouldn't have mattered, at least as far as fat loss is concerned.

Fat loss is about diet, NOT exercise.

Exercise is about performance.

And one of the highest performing athletes of the last couple of years is Tyson Fury.

A man at the top of a sport where athletes are famously well conditioned.

If you've ever boxed, kickboxing, fought I'm any code. You'll understand how conditioned a boxer must be to be standing after 12 x 3 minute rounds.

And what does Fury look like?

Especially compared to many of the opponents he has beaten?

Exactly.

This is why asking for an exercise plan for fat loss is the wrong question.

Now, nutrition is not my wheelhouse. I defer to Seb for this, he has actually studied the topic because, unlike me, he finds it interesting.

What does Seb do when a client asks him about fat loss?

He asks for a food diary.

He doesn't test your 1RM or count how many Kettlebell Snatches you can do in 5 minutes.

He doesn't ask for your 400m time

He asks what you eat and drink.

Then he tells you to eat more protein while he analyses your diet before coming back with proper suggestions.

I once read a post by a high profile figure in the personal training world say how we, as an industry, were failing because the general population is becoming fatter on average.

The reason “we're failing “ is because the fitness industry positions itself as the answer to so many problems, including fat loss.

The gym is a place to build strength, mobility and endurance.

Yes, the extra calories you use in training will make it easier to lose fat, but that’s it. It's an accelerator to fat loss, not the cause.

And, as we become accustomed to training, our body becomes used to training, the effect of exercise on calorie cost reduces.

You MUST change your diet if you want to lose body fat.

That is the domain of the nutritionist, not the strength coach or the personal trainer.

What do we mean by change and why is Seb going to ask you for a food diary?

Just like going from no exercise to all out training is a recipe for disaster, so is a complete dietary overhaul.

No, you start slow and easy and you gradually ramp up in training.

Training goes in peaks and troughs, changes as wants and needs change.

So should your diet.

You make small changes, as in Matt cutting out the midweek beers.

Or increasing protein intake as per Seb's stock advice.

Then you make the next change, then the next.

You want changes to be sustainable and practical.

And, just like we, as needed, might increase or reduce the intensity of your training, you can go through stricter and more relaxed periods of diet.

Having these thought out ahead of time is a good idea, but not as good an idea as being flexible in your thinking.

You must accept that real life happens and has to be lived.

There will be periods to “crash diet” to get an acute, if short lived change in bodyfat levels. This is how our combat sports guys live, they crash diet on the run up to a fight where they must be a specific weight.

Then after, they relax and go back to what bodybuilders refer to as “maintenance”

Maintenance is a sensible, sustainable diet that provides you with the nutrition you need to live the way you want to live, including training and including having fun.

Getting a good maintenance diet is probably the place most people fall down. So much so an old Thai Boxing coach I knew had a print out he would give his lads once they started training seriously that would help them learn how to fuel themselves while staying relatively lean and so not have to cut very much going into a fight.

Notice the trend?

It’s the nutrition that matters for fat loss, NOT the training.

If you have a few pounds you want to shift, get onto Seb. You can book a nutritional consult with him through the Wg-Fit site, or if you’re in WG-Fit, simply ask him.

Don’t ask me.

Here’s what I will tell you:

Eat like an adult

Eat foods of one ingredient

Listen to your body

And that’s about it.

Do ask me about exercise though.

I’m good at that….

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net

Avoiding the Guru

Last week's newsletter was a dive into the principles behind flexibility and mobility as it was a good follow up[ to Thomas’ question the previous week.

I hope you found it useful and provided some fuel for thoughts.

Thoughts that I’d love to hear.

In the meantime, around the same time I got Thomas, question, I also got this one in from Matt:

“Hi Dave

Avid follower since doing AiM with Chris (Sritharan) & Kendra (Toohill) , they pointed me to your Indian clubs course on Vimeo.

Anyway the question.

By buying into programs for training, you’re often sent down the path of ‘this is the way, and the only way’ and certain fitness gurus often promote this. One such example, Functional Patterns. An almost cult like following.

Is there any credence in following just one approach, or should you always mix things up - at the right time for the right reasons of course?

Cheers

Matt”

This is a great question.

There are a few things to unpack, lets start with the obvious…

AiM aka Anatomy in Motion, is the movement assessment training that myself and Kendra received from the concepts founder Gary Ward and his right hand man, the legend that is Chris Sritharan.

And while I have never met Kendra, I am familiar with her via talking to both Gary and Chris as well as interactions on Facebook. Kendra is a solid practitioner with a deep understanding of the body.

As for Chris, I’ve a call booked with him later this week, we meet up infrequently just to shoot the shit, and I can’t wait. This guys knowledge and experience of all things human animal is immense, plus his philosophical way of looking at what makes us tick is like a mirror to my own, which makes for some really fun interactions.

You can find both these guys on social media, they will be in my friends lists should you want to look them up.

Indian Clubs. The aforementioned video is available here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/indianclubbasics and is on the list for being added to the online course library on davehedges.net, I just need to either edit or re record it to flow how I want it on the new site.

What I will do though, once I get it done, any of you that have purchased the Vimeo on Demand version, send me some proof and I’ll give you access to the updated version when it goes live. We’ll deal with that when we get to it.

So, to our hero’s actual question.

Should you follow a single individual / style / system (that isn’t me…..!)

That's a question that carries a lot of nuance.

As pointed out in the question, my own approach, which follows the approach I see used by many of the highest quality coaches out there, is to be as impartial and no nonsense as possible.

If I come across new, better information, I will endeavour to adopt it, even if that mean moving away from what I’m doing currently.

I try not to be married to any specific methodology, style or system.

Yes, I specialise in movement mechanics, Kettlebell usage and Martial Arts preparation.

But those inform the training I give to non kettlebell or non martial arts folk.

For a general example, look at the Bootcamp program compared to the Lunchtime Fitness sessions that have been run in WG-Fit for well over a decade.

They couldn’t be any more different.

The Bootcamp is a structured plan that runs in cycles. It started out aimed at Kickboxers, as they were the guys that asked me to start the morning sessions, but was influenced by a group of Rugby players that joined.

It really is a great general Strength & Conditioning session for anyone, structured and progressive.

The Lunchtimes are somewhat unstructured. Much more a “Workout of the day” format.

The idea of the lunchtime was always to provide stimulus to people short on time or without a regular weekly routine.

These are kettlebell focused, some days using single bells, other days pairs.

Some days strength focussed, other days more high intensity. All full body.

Put together in such a way that if a person attends once, twice or four times per week over a long enough timeline they will receive stimulus across Strength, Mobility and Endurance.

The results of the lunchtime sessions speak for themselves, they became my personal favourite sessions to run and also my most successful.

The common factor across all these group programs was the amount of individual coaching I tried to provide. Adjusting workouts on the fly to suit the individuals within the group.

And this is what I consider to be the mark of a good coach.

A good coach will fit the training to YOU, not try to fit you to the training.

If the approach you are following is of the “my way or the highway” mindset.

Take the highway.

Walk.

Find someone else.

Our Hero mentions Functional Patterns.

Now, FP are a controversial set up and one I could rant and rave about, but I will resist.

First things first, they do have some great ideas. Some of their stuff as applied, is great.

Where they fall down is their founder Mr Naudi Aguilar.

Mr Aguilar is everything that is wrong with coaching.

Despite him having some genuinely fantastic ideas, some well worth stealing, he also goes on absolute flights of fantasy as well as being the epitome of a “my way or the highway” character.

If you disagree with Aguilar, or do any method he views as inferior to his (which seems to be all of them) he goes full internet troll and uses language such as calling people out as “Beta males”

It’s actually quite funny, if utterly pathetic.

Until it impacts on the other instructors under him and even worse, the clients.

And that’s all I’ll say on the matter.

In my own experience, I’ve come across many martial arts schools that ask for this kind of blinkered loyalty. I never stayed in any as that kind of narrow mindedness doesn’t sit well with me.

Back in the “wild west” days of martial arts, yes, I can see how teaching my secrets to someone else could make me vulnerable.

If I have a particular skill set that made me a great warrior, then I don’t want my enemies learning it and either figuring out a counter or simply using it against me.

But those days are long gone. The internet being the final nail in that coffin.

Everyone has the same access to all information these days.

Yet, it takes experience to develop a good BS filter so you don’t get taken for a ride.

So to this end, it is a good idea to visit various gyms, follow various coaches on social media, read a variety of books on the topic.

Anytime I have spent time with younger, up coming coaches I always give that same advice.

I also tell them, read the coaches who you absolutely disagree with.

This nowadays extends to following them on SocMed as well.

Why?

If you read information and opinion that is diametrically opposed to your own, it provides you with a test.

Does your own info stand up against it, or does it crumble.

If it stands, then good, you’re probably on the right lines.

If your thoughts wobble, maybe their not as sound as you thought and you could do with some deeper learning.

There is a reason that most of the top coaches say much the same stuff, albeit suing different delivery systems.

It’s because when we look at the human animal, there are simple fundamental truths.

After that we look at everything else as a big Venn Diagram. The fundamental truths will obviously be in the centre, but the other cross over points are also true.

But knowing what is true for a marathon runners training isn’t quite true to a rugby players training is important.

A final point to bring up, is it can be very difficult to know if you’re on the right path or being crowbarred into someone else's path if you’re not fully in tune with your own wants, needs, past and potential future. Which is why the Force of Nature program spend the first half of the course looking into just that before we look at how to then go about achieving those wants and needs.

Now, I’ve no idea if I actually answered Matt’s question there.

Let me know if you think I did, or if you have a perspective different from mine that you’d like to offer.

And as ever, I want your questions .

Your questions are the lifeblood of this newsletter, so hit reply and ask away.

Chat soon

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net