This is a re-post. But, it has more relevance than ever today. No matter how hard you train, you can undo it with a binge. Enjoy the holiday, but don’t kid yourself about one marathon session being able to make a dent in your overall situation.
-Jim
You can’t out-train the dinner table!
Here’s a workout to try on a day you want to test yourself. Set a stopwatch and do the following as fast as possible:
CrossFit “Murph”
1 mile run
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
1 mile run
Puke breaks are allowed, but the clock still ticks. Think this is enough to “burn off” poor eating for the day? Think again.
Fitness is 80% nutrition.
For most embarking on a fitness mission, the objective is some form of weight/fat loss. Many think an hour on the ellipitical or a cycling class is sufficient to burn off the extra calories. Forget about it.
For the more enlightened, some form of strength training, kettlebell training or even CrossFit workouts (like Murph) are prescribed, which will create a greater conditioning effect. Once again, you are kidding yourself.
Here is a concrete illustration of the fact that no matter how hard you train, your nutrition is still the deciding factor in whether you lose or gain weight. We’ll prove it mathematically.
A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories of energy.
To lose a pound per week, you have to reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 per week, or 500 calories per day. To lose two pounds, you’d have to reduce your intake (or increase your expenditure) by 1,000 calories.
If you reduce your expenditure (or increase intake) by 500 calories per day – or one 12oz latte – you’ll gain a pound a week.
A while back, I did Murph for about the 4th time in the past 6 months. My goal was to beat my last time of 45 minutes. I completed the workout in roughly 40 minutes, so I was jacked.
I went home and downloaded my Bodybugg. I burned 722 calories during the workout.
Great.
That is an awesome workout, probably a little harder than normal for me. And, I dare say, lugging my 230lb frame though 600 bodyweight reps and two, 1-mile runs is significantly more power output than is found in any cycling or aerobics class.
That same day, I ate the following:
– An Apex Fit Drink, and a bowl of oatmeal.
– A 12″ turkey and pastrami deli sandwich with a smal bag of barbecue
potato chips and a 32oz raspberry iced tea.
– Post workout, I had another Apex FIT Drink mix, with a scoop of glutamine.
– For dinner, I had a heaping plate of pasta with shrimp wrapped in bacon. Oh, and I also had two 12oz pale ales and a glass of red wine.
Grand total calories consumed for the day? 4,170
Total calories burned that day: 3,798.
That equals a calorie surplus of 372 calories.
That being the case, if I were to do the Murph workout everyday (!), and eat like a pig, I would still gain a pound of fat about every 9 days. If I did that every week for a year, I’d gain 40lbs of fat.
Even after a workout like Murph, a binge at the dinner table will more than out-do any hope of trimming down through exercise alone.
Think about this the next time you try to rationalize poor nutrition by a trip to the gym. It won’t work.
No matter how hard you train, you can’t out-train the dinner table.
-Jim Beaumont
