Shift Work

Shift Work

“Eating right to achieve your health and wellness goals”

By: Mike Hayden CFC, AFS, SPT,

Many of my clients have asked me to produce nutrition plans for them because they work strange hours. Like many Canadians, they work ‘shift work’. In many individuals this has become another obstacle in the fight to build lean muscle and burn unwanted fat deposits.

While working on this diet, I realized that most of the strategies I was outlining were almost identical to the nutritional plans devised for most of our clients with some important exceptions.

Shift workers are usually prone to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, high cholesterol levels and obesity. The major exception is that shift work upsets the body’s natural Circadian rhythms. This system is affected by daylight and night hours and dictates many of our body’s functions, such as sleep, hunger and digestion. Before I set-up this nutritional plan I wanted to understand fully the roll of Circadian rhythm upon shift workers who exercise regularly.

My reasoning was, if one needs to make exceptions to their nutritional plan when on shift work. It is because in many cases shift work is “rushed” work. Also, digestion is not at an optimal level because the body believes this should be your rest, repair and recover hours. It has also been my experience that shift workers are eating poorly during the day and over-eat during their shift. Also a huge problem is that their world flips when it comes to the weekend.

What does the current research say? In 2009 The Salk Institute for Biological Studies used mice to reveal that gene activity in the liver (the bodies’ metabolic clearing house) is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body’s circadian clock as conventional wisdom lead us to believe.

"If feeding time determines the activity of a large number of genes completely independent of the circadian clock, when you eat and fast each day will have a huge impact on your metabolism," says the study's leader Satchidananda (Satchin) Panda, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory.
"We believe that it is not shift work per se that wreaks havoc with the body's metabolism but changing shifts and weekends, when workers switch back to a regular day-night cycle," says Panda.

They found that putting mice on a strict 8-hour feeding/16-hour fasting schedule restored the circadian transcription pattern of most metabolic genes in the liver of mice without a circadian clock. Conversely, during prolonged fasting, only a small subset of genes continued to be transcribed in a circadian pattern even with a functional circadian clock present.

A Northwestern University study has found that eating at irregular times -- the equivalent of the middle of the night for humans, when the body wants to sleep -- influences weight gain. The regulation of energy by the body's circadian rhythms may play a significant role. The study is the first causal evidence linking meal timing and increased weight gain.

This study was found in the journal Obesity.

For example, genes that encode enzymes needed to break down sugars rise immediately after a meal, while the activity of genes encoding enzymes needed to break down fat is highest when we fast. Consequently a clearly defined daily feeding schedule puts the enzymes of metabolism in shift work and optimizes burning of sugar and fat.

Strategy:

1. Alternate 8hrs of eating with 16 hrs of fasting everyday.
2. Planning, identify weakness. More protein, veggies and smart fats such as omega 3 fish oils with each feeding.

Many people on shift work order out for fatty, fried foods. These have a high processed carb make-up and lack a good lean protein source. All meals should contain both a protein and a carb.

3. Use a digestive enzyme for help with metabolites during shift work. Also including yogurt, ginger, and pears in your diet to help. Add apple cider vinegar to your water to help combat blood sugar rise and blood pressure. The acetic acid in apple cider vinegar can help fight fatigue.
4. Prepare cut fruits and veggies to bring. Preferably the low gylcemic load type. But don’t be too picky.
5. Lastly, cut the coffee. Many shift workers drink too much. Have 1 cup before your shift. It would be better if you add oolong tea or green tea during your shift to boost metabolism.

To summarize, the key to staying health for shift work is to remember it is meal timing that matters more than circadian rhythm. Eat small metabolically charged meals containing lean protein sources and vegetables with each feeding over 8hrs. Use a digestive enzyme or include digestive aids such as yogurt, ginger and pears in your meal plans. Prepare foods instead of takeout. Lastly if you are having trouble getting 1.5 to 2g of protein per lb of body weight use a predigested  isowhey protein or high vegetarian protein (ex. Hemp) to supplement.

Keep Strong!

Spring into Action with Ten Top Fitness Tips

Use these ten tips to spring into the warm seasons, ready to enjoy whatever they will offer!

#1 Remember to warm up properly

Many people neglect to do a proper warm up, an important process necessary to prepare the body and its systems for the high intensity of the exercise program to follow. In the past, trainers and fitness consultants were quick to put people on the bike or rowing machine for an average of ten minutes to increase the temperature of the body and to help disperse the blood from the viscera to the working muscles. We now know that while this is fine for the cardiovascular system as it sends valuable messages to the central nervous system preparing it for the work to come, careful attention must be paid to the intensity of the warm up. If not, the increase in blood lactate could hamper the workout.
Muscles need a different type of neural message. Your central nervous system needs to relay four things to each group of muscles you are preparing to work within the exercise session: 1). What muscles do I want working?; 2). What exercise am I asking these muscles to perform?; 3). What is the range of motion in this exercise?; 4). Will there be a substantial weight involved in the exercise? Completing a couple of low repetition sets with a lighter weight than will be used for your actual workout sets can be a very good warm up.

#2 Use efficient exercises

Exercises like the bench press, the squat, and the pull up, are the backbone of any resistance-training program. Called "basic compound movements" because they force you to use the muscles attached to more than one joint, these exercises use more of the muscle fiber pool than isolation exercises such as flies, leg extensions, or alternate curls. By using compound movements, beginners will reduce the time that they need to exercise and will reduce the possibility of over-training and over-exertion. These movements develop strength in groups of muscles and eliminate imbalances in strength in opposing movements.

#3 Make changes

Change your exercise routines often. A beginner's central nervous system learns through repetitive motion, doing a motion over and over. It's recommended that those new to exercising wait until this neural adaptation phase is complete before making changes - for most people, this takes between four to six weeks. For more advanced exercisers - those of us who have been at it for two years or more - changes need to be made as often as every two weeks before your body adapts to the routine of your program and learns to 'cheat.' If changes are not made, you will enter a state of non-progression where advances will be at a standstill. The only way to get the body to respond to exercise is to stress it in a way it is not used to.

#4 Use training cycles

The use of training cycles is vitally important to avoid falling into the 'bodybuilding' way of life, using split routines and volume training without change. For athletes, this can be a quick path to the doctor's office. No athlete can be expected to train in the same way for 53 weeks of the year, on the contrary, changes in intensity and for sport-specific movements are essential. For example bodybuilders are concerned only with appearance and have no need for jumping power, take off speed and a-lactic recovery.
Cycles are designed to help an athlete to peak at the proper time, usually at the onset of the competitive season. Cycles for mass, strength, power, speed, endurance, and recovery must all be programmed into an athletic program when needed.

#5 Keep a detailed log

Very few people can train instinctively - those who do usually end up in my office on a referral from a doctor or chiropractor! The most important reason for keeping a training log is that it gives you an up-to-date account of where you are within the training cycle and informs you when you need to change. It also comes in handy for answering questions at the doctor's office. I've often asked people what exercise they were doing and how much weight was being used, only to be told that they don't remember.
A log will also show whether or not you are achieving your goals or have reached a plateau in your program.

#6 Eat a proper diet

Nutrition is one of the most important components of the good health formula. Nothing could be truer than the old adage, "you are what you eat." Everything within our bodies can be broken down into the elements we ingest on a day-to-day basis.
When you begin to add exercise to your daily routine many systems are taxed, and how well they adapt is what makes the program work for, or against you. Without proper nutrition, exercise will not work in your favor. If you abandon your daily pizza and french fries for lean meats, fruit and vegetables and follow the same exercise routine, the difference in results will be remarkable.

#7 Eat smaller portions more often

By dividing your caloric intake throughout the day, your metabolism will be forced to work at an elevated rate in order to keep digesting the constant influx of nutrients. If, on the other hand, you eat a meal consisting of a four-ounce chicken breast, a side of vegetables, a salad, milk, and desert, your body will only absorb small amounts of each nutrient at a time. The rest will be sent out as waste. By dividing the nutrients into smaller portions, more of each will be used for the repair of the systems taxed by the stress of exercise. Humans are grazers not gorgers; our systems are not designed to binge and fast, but rather to eat small amounts more often.

#8 Get a good nights sleep

This is yet another very important component of the formula for good health, since your body does as much as 70 percent of its repair work during sleep. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that if you don't get a good night's sleep you'll be a mess the next day. Don't sleep much longer than the recommended eight hours, however, because you'll be depriving your body of food for too long, which is counterproductive to your goal of improving your physical health.

#9 Keep your workouts short

Research shows that levels of productive hormones in the body reach their peak after approximately 45 minutes of exercise. Working with weights or doing cardio past this point is counterproductive since levels of byproducts such as lactic acid and catabolic hormones like cortisol will begin to saturate the blood, impeding performance and recuperation.
By keeping your workout short and intense, you keep these levels low and create a good environment for your body to adapt to the stress. Workouts do not need to be long and grueling and many people would achieve better results by reducing the amount of time they exercise in a given session.

#10 Exercise the largest muscles first

If you plan to work on more than one body part or if you're doing a whole body workout, split your program into large and small muscle groups. By working the large groups like the back, chest, and legs first, followed by the small groups like the biceps, shoulders, and calves, you will eliminate the fatigue factor in the small stabilizers. For example, let's imagine that you wanted to do a bench press, and you know that your work weight for that given exercise is 250 pounds. Before attempting the bench press you did shoulder presses and triceps extensions, then you moved on to the bench press. You attempted to do your first set of tem repetitions at 250 pounds but could only get eight. In the next set, you only complete six. What's the problem? You're not exercising your chest at the proper intensity that this large muscle group needs, and the other small muscles used in this exercise for stabilization and as secondary mover to the chest are already tired from the exercises you did prior to the bench press. A good total body split is chest, legs, back, biceps, shoulder, calves, and triceps.

Until next time stay fit and be strong.

Peter J Morel
CFC,CPT,CAFS
President TopShape Inc.

 Everyone needs to see this!
If your resolution includes getting more fit then let this be your motivation!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo&feature=share

Physical Activity Can Start At Any Age

Physical Activity Can Start At Any Age

As the baby boomer generation continues to age, more and more people are feeling those age associated constraints we never thought about until now.  People with disabilities need to heed the warnings more so than their able bodied counterparts. For years now, we’ve all read about the various physical and psychological benefits of physical activity, and many of us have vowed to start exercising next week, next month, or made it a New Years resolution. However, with two out of three Canadians not physically active enough to benefit their health, according to a recent report by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, it's clear that not too many of us have made it up from the couch. Yet physical inactivity is far more serious than we think, according to Health Canada, physical inactivity is the cause, chronic disease, disability and premature death.

One hour of moderate daily activity is necessary to achieve any long-term health benefits, according to the Canadian agency, and can be done in as little as 10 minutes at a time. Activities can include anything where movement is involved, such as walking, gardening, and even stretching and bending, and should become a regular and routine part of your day in order for them to reduce the risk of disease.

Mike Hayden, co-owner of the TopShape Fitness Studio, says more baby boomers are incorporating fitness workouts into their lifestyles than in the past. His studio, located at

95 Holland ave. is Ottawa’s Premiere Private Training Studio, sees an early-morning crowd that comes in for a 30 minute circuit class or a half hour of cardio exercise to start their day off, while others come in at noon for a work-out instead of lunch; people stressed out by their jobs often come in after work for the cities top one on one training.

“Exercise with a professional is smart because you get the knowledge on how to exercise for your body type”. “The trainer is there to teach you the program and remove the guessing.” “Our trainers are experts in different fields they will ensure you learn to train properly and reduce your risk of injury”. “You don’t go to a dentist for your eyes our trainers make it their business to know how to elevate your level of fitness.”

In all cases, it is advisable to see a physician for a check-up before starting slowly and building up to accumulate 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity most days. According to Health Canada, in order to get the most health benefits from physical activities, a variety of such activities should be chosen from the following three groups.

Endurance
 Continuous activities that make you feel warm and breathe deeply
  Increase your energy
  Improve your heart, lungs and circulatory system
Flexibility
 Gentle reaching, bending and stretching
 Keep your muscles relaxes and joints mobile
 Move more easily and be more agile
 

Strength and Balance

 Life weights, do resistance activities
 Improve balance and posture
 Keep muscles and bones strong
 Prevent bone loss

What's best about physical activity is that you're never too old to start and whatever your age or activity, the benefits will become apparent in a very short period of time. In as little as four months, those participating in some form of activity felt more energized, more relaxed and better able to cope with stress

Benefits of Regular
Physical Activity:
- Increased relaxation
- Sleep better
- Better physical and mental health
- More energy
- Movement with fewer aches and pains
- Better posture and balance
- Improved self-esteem
- Weight maintenance
- Stronger muscles and bones
- Relaxation and reduced stress
-For seniors, continued independent
  living

Getting
Started:
- Build physical activity into your daily
   routine
- Do the activities you are doing now, more
   often
- Walk whenever and wherever you can
- Start slowly with easy stretching
- Move around frequently
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
- Carry home the groceries
- Find activities that you enjoy
- Try out a class at a fitness centre

“Until next time stay fit and be strong!!”

Peter J. Morel C.F.C, C.I.C, C.P.T.

President TopShape Inc.

www.topshapeinc.com

Water isn’t just for fish!

Most of us use water everyday. We use it for bathing, doing dishes, laundry and a multitude of different things. But, how often do we think of drinking it?  For most people it’s not nearly enough! If you have waited for your body to tell you that you need a drink it’s too late! The dehydration has already set in and a host of negative side effects are already under way!

Most people these days understand how important it is to drink plenty of water, but many are still not drinking enough. Most North Americans only drink between 3 and 4 cups of water a day. Some drink the recommended 8 – 10 glasses a day but then counter that by drinking diuretic drinks like coffee and alcohol.

The price you pay for dehydration is dull senses, poor production, fatigue, and bad recovery from stress and illness.  I believe that knowledge is power, and if you understand how your health is affected the better the chance that you will change any bad habit.

Of all the nutrients we consume protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, vitamins and water the only one we can’t live with out for more than a few days is.......water. It goes without saying then that it’s pretty important! Water is being continuously lost through sweat, evaporation, respiration and waste. Water helps purge toxins from our bodies it transports nutrients to the cells and is a natural appetite suppressant just to name a few beneficial effects.

More and more doctors, strength coaches and nutritionists are coming out with studies stating that we need more water then ever. This is especially true if we exercise and if you’re an athlete you need to consume upwards of 1.5 to 2 liters a day.

The warning signals of dehydration are; first, thirst.  This is a red flag, telling you that your body’s functions are in desperate need of re-hydration. You need to be drinking before during and after a workout and all through the day you should never say “boy I’m really thirsty”.  

Drinking plenty of water before you exercise will allow you to perform at a higher intensity for longer periods of time. Why? Well, compared to other drinks water releases and absorbs heat slowly. Maintaining temperature control is extremely important for athletes. A study done by Columbia University showed that if water is not replaced that total blood volume dropped and oxygen delivery was delayed as blood is more than 50% water.

           

The findings of a study presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in Baltimore. Conducted by scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI) in Barrington, Ill., looked at how accurately athletes could estimate their sweat losses and fluid consumption during a 10-mile race. Eighteen seasoned runners participated in the study. The results showed that the runners drastically underestimated how much sweat they lost and consequently drank too little to stay well hydrated.
The runners underestimated their sweat losses by an average of 46 percent and their fluid intake by an average of 15 percent, resulting in the runners replacing only 30 percent of their fluids lost through sweat.

The study was conducted during a competitive 10-mile race on a 400-meter track. Participants were given access to a sports beverage consisting of a 6% carbohydrate-electrolyte solution in a 20-oz. sports bottle at mile two, four, six and eight. They were allowed to drink at their discretion at each designated stop, as well as carry the bottle and drink while running. Despite this, the runners still became dehydrated.

Both your heart and brain use water for balance of electrolytes and for electrical signals to pass. According to the Gatorade Institute a drop of 1-2% in water will begin to affect concentration and cause fatigue. A drop of 3- 5% will cause dizziness, headache and then muscle cramps. The 3% drop will also cause up to an 8 % drop in muscular strength and a 10% drop in speed. Severe dehydration can lead to heat stroke and even death.  Also a lack of water in the system will stress your cardiovascular system. For every 2-3lbs of water lost during exercise an increase of 8-10 beats per minute can be seen and your heart puts out one liter of blood less per minute.

The majority of people trying to lose fat through an exercise program don’t realize that they're metabolism and digestion are working less efficiently because their dehydrated.

An athlete also wants toxins out and nutrients in. Water does both eliminating toxins through sweat and excretion and allowing nutrients to be absorbed through the water barrier in the cell membranes.

Water also helps with injury prevention and recovery by protecting the organs, tissue and helping create synovial fluid which lubricates your joints. It is the component which makes up most of the cerebrospinal fluid the shock absorbing fluid between the vertebrae and around the brain. People who are hydrated sufficiently have fewer instances of chronic back problems and strokes.

Many people believe that drinking to much water will lead to excess water retention. The truth is that fluid retention and bloating are more common in people who are dehydrated.

Dehydration causes the body to retain water to dilute excess sodium. Now many people believe that sports drinks are better than water. Not true, they cause bloating and give you lots of unnecessary calories. Now for endurance athletes and those who tend to train at high levels for more than an hour yes the replenishment of fluids and electrolytes is very important thus, electrolyte based drinks can be beneficial.

Here is one final test, if you don’t have a bottle of water in front of you right now while you read this article you’re probably not drinking enough! GO GET SOME WATER!

PJM



Energy Balance

Energy Balance

The truth about “calories in and calories out”.

You might be a believer in this rule.  If I am 150 lbs and my daily energy expenditure is 1800 calories per day (because this is what the online calculator told me) and I eat 1800 calories per day, than I will stay the same weight.  If I eat less than 1800 calories I will lose weight.  Sounds simple and there is a lot of good science to back up this philosophy.

There is only one problem.  It never seems to work in real life with most people.  The reason is that true energy balance needs an increase in activity and an increase in proper micronutrients to really work.  In most cases, I have found that people living by this method are not exercising regularly and not eating properly. I have found that they are eating under their daily resting metabolic rate (RMR) and are not losing, but gaining fat.  What they do lose, in the very short term is muscle and water, with very little coming from fat stores.

So why is this happening?

It happens for a number of reasons. The most likely being a low RMR (resting metabolic rate), which in turn makes you a thrifty calorie burner and great at storing fat.  Your pro-hormone levels are not activating properly.  Maybe you are insulin sensitive, have high cortisol, thyroid is high or low, growth hormone is low or testosterone or estrogen is too low or too high.  Perhaps you continually looked for a quick fix to your fitness challenge and tried 1 or more of the many fad diets that are advertised.  Any of these reasons could explain the challenges most people face in reaching there fitness goals.

Let me tell you another little secret.  You know those magazine pictures that show these dramatic transformations from fat and frumpy to lean hard body…you know the ones with the house wife who now has abs. Firstly some are fake, surprise. But some are real. I have even met a few of these individuals, and can vouch for there ability to change and keep it off.  In every case, 100% those men or women increased daily activity, lifted weights and did cardio. They also increased daily calorie consumption. In most cases they doubled or even tripled calorie consumption and used supplements.  They also ate very differently than there old habitual way of eating.

Nutrient partitioning

Nutrient partitioning refers to how many calories are directed into muscular stores verses how many calories are directed into fat stores when you consume food.

Well what the hell does that mean?  Here is a simple explanation. Everybody wants to put on muscle while losing fat. There is only 1 problem. This is very difficult. This is because of nutrient partitioning thresholds.  You may have a fat gain threshold of 2000 cal a day. If you eat more than 2000 cal per day you tend to gain fat stores.  You want to gain muscle to, but you have a muscle threshold of 2200 calories per day.  You need to eat at least 2200 cal to gain any substantial muscle.  So to gain muscle you always gain some fat as well. Very frustrating!

Here’s where I give you the good news.  You can lower the muscle gain threshold.  I would say 90% of trainers don’t have any idea how to do this.  But yet again most trainers can’t teach someone to squat properly, let alone construct a proper program.  Sorry… you want the secret of how to change the muscle to fat ratio!  First your 2000 cal (number of calories depends on client evaluation) must be more nutrient rich. So you see a calorie just isn’t a calorie. 

The ratio of protein to carbs to fats has to be balanced.  If I told you that a person eating 600 calories of protein, 800 calories of carbs (mostly sugars) and 600 calories of fats (mostly of it being trans and hydrogenated fats) would not see the results that a person eating 1000 calories of lean protein sources, 500 calories from carbs (mostly fruits and veggies and fibre rich grains) and 500 calories from fats (the majority from omega 3 fish oil and an equal division on saturated and polyunsaturated omega 6 and 9 fats).

Here are some food examples of nutrient rich protein, carbs and fats.

Fish

Eggs

Chicken breasts

Lean red meat

Cottage cheese

Milk protein isolates

Whey protein isolates

Green vegetables

Salads

Legumes

Low glycemic index fruits

Oatmeal

Sweet potatoes

Mixed grain bread

Fish oil, flax oil, olive oil

Mixed nuts

Your success here truly depends on being properly evaluated. At TopShape we do this for you. We can also instruct you to do this yourself if you choose our online personal training package.  Check back for follow-ups on this subject in the near future. Good luck!

TopShape Fitness.

Why I love TopShape

 Why I love TopShape Fitness 

I love TopShape Fitness! It’s great to be able to train in a nice, quiet and private gym, with one-on-one guidence. The staff is very knowledgeable; and as a disabled athlete I am confident that I am following a training program that suits my needs and the needs of my sport. I feel that training at TopShape has improved many areas of my life, such as day-to-day activities and of course my game play.

Since training at TopShape, I am stronger, my stamina has increased and I feel more stable on and off the ice! Peter Morel has developed a sport specific training program, that is tailored to my individual needs,goals and stresses and movements of the sport! His knowledge of adaptive training is unsurpassed and is of great help to any athlete looking to get in the best condition possible.

I highly recommend TopShape to anyone looking to get in better shape for competition.

Marc Dorion                                       

Team Canada                                                               

Paralympic Gold Medalist and World Champion