PFP Exeter

Health and training tips – thanks Phil and Eric! (part 1)

Recently I attended a weekend internship with Coach Phil Richards, Dr Eric Serrano and Dr Nigel Plummer, all gurus in their respective fields (health, nutrition, strength and conditioning, gut health and so forth). Here are some of the points discussed. I shall write up part 2 soon:

1. Poorly fed (grain fed), hormonally enhanced and mass produced animals are more often than not also toxic animals. They store these toxins in the fatty parts of their flesh, just like us! These toxins are then passed up the food chain to us, this is another reason to ‘go organic’. If you decide not to bother with organic / grass fed meat at least cut off the fatty bits to reduce your exposure to these fat stored toxins.
2. Cut back on volume of training to increase Testosterone levels and reduce Cortisol. There is very often an inverse scale for these two hormones. As one is up (forgive the pun) the other is down and vice versa. Exceptions to this are first thing in the morning and at the start of a strength training session where both hormones should rise together for a time.
3. Heart rate visibility (HRV) is a reasonably good indication of stress / over training. Take your heart rate first thing in the morning immediately on waking, if there is a marked difference 10% plus from normal consider cutting back on training.
4. Treating the adrenal glands will also help with treatment of the thyroid. Our thyroid is usually in ‘good health’ or ‘bad health’ depending on our lifestyle not the other way round i.e. it is us that generally screw up our thyroid, our thyroid doesn’t screw us up! Having said that, heavy metal toxicity from a number of sources can create thyroid havoc. Mercury fillings will be discussed later…a prime heavy metal and poison culprit!
5. Not all simple carbs are bad. D-Ribose, is a simple carb that fuels the heart, add it peri workout for increased energy and to aid recovery along with your protein of choice.
6. Whey protein can be a good recovery protein source. However beware of sucralose, aspartame and other sweeteners. Try to ‘man up’ and have unflavoured whey. A better option is to have Essential Amino Acids (EAA) instead of whey for optimal and quick absorption.
7. Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) is a very effective and cheap lactic acid buffer. Also a good alkalising agent. Athletes can benefit from adding this pre workout.
8. Consider this often overlooked element of health and athletic performance. If we focus on building good quality blood, then health, endurance, fitness, muscle and strength will follow. Healthy blood should flow freely and efficiently carry oxygen to the cells. If we slug down litres of ‘super duper muscle building shakes’ without first having healthy, oxygenated and flowing blood we may be wasting much of our nutritional endevour as well as possibly adding to ill health further down the line, not to mention misdirecting our money!!!
9. Statins (anti cholesterol) drug decreases Co Q10 and therefore weakens the heart as a pump and also increase Lipoprotein A (an inflammatory marker as well as being associated with increased risk of artherosclerosis, heart desease and strokes). Ask yourself if statins is helping you, or is it simply reducing cholesterol at the expense or a host of other health issues not least of all a congested heart? Eat less sugary crap and increase healthy fats.
10. ‘We burn what we eat’ (Dr Eric Serrano)… loose translation is if we eat loads of carbs, then we will primarily use these carbs as fuel. Similarly if we eat good quality fats then it is fat that we burn as fuel. Endurance athlete should consider fuelling their training regime with fats (medium chain triglyceride and mono unsaturated fats). This will allow them to burn fat as fuel which lasts longer than carbs (9 kcal per gram). Then prior to the race they can ‘carb up’ and this will stoke the energy fire with the added benefit of adding carbs to the fuel mix…leading to awesomeness!
11. Fibre not only helps clear estrogen and helps to keep our colon ‘clean’. It is also a short chain fatty acid (SCFA) fuel source for  the gut providing energy for a healthy colon. Pre biotics are simply soluble fibre (veg, fruit, legumes etc). Add a pro-biotic to super charge the health of your gut. Remember that as the man said the gut is the 2^nd brain. Serotonin (the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter) is made in the gut and used by the brain.
12. Amalgam (mercury filling) are hideously bad for us in so many ways, effecting such things as: depression, poor memory, neurological inefficiency, thyroid function, immune function, reducing blood O2 levels, kidney function…the list is endless. These fillings are banned in certain EU countries and no doubt will be here in UK soon. Heavy metals can be cleared by specific nutritional interventions (selenium in nuts helps). Mine are coming out in two weeks time!

I will write up part 2 of this article asap. Also thanks to Phil Richards who granted me permission to write this blog.

Meanwhile feel free to share and like the article…if indeed you do like it I guess!