Breakfast Of Champions Or Losers?

According to Dr. Eric Braverman, author of "The Edge Effect", the first thing you put in your mouth dictates your neurotransmitters all day. So basically, the first thing you eat sets the stage for the whole day.

Most people I talk to about nutrition, I either find out that they don't eat breakfast or they eat a horrible one. 

Have you ever eaten anything first thing in the morning and within 15 to 20 minutes felt like you should go back to bed? That's a tell-tale sign that you shouldn't be eating that.

The two neurotransmitters we want to raise with a good breakfast are dopamine and acetyl-choline. Considered brain speed and brain power. If you eat foods that raise them, you'll feel awake for starters, and damn good I might add.

This is why when I consult someone on nutrition, for whatever their reason may be (lose fat, build muscle, cut weight for a tournament etc.), I deal with breakfast first.

Here's a food log I just got from one of my athletes, which is way better than most peoples I might add.

Breakfast: 11 am

Oats N Honey Granola Bar

32 oz of water

Lunch: 4:30 pm

Chipotle Burrito Bowl (steak, corn, black beans, rice)

48 oz of water

Snack: 7:30 pm

Hamburger Patty, Side Salad w/ Vinaigrette Dressing

48 oz of water

Dinner: 10:30 pm

9 oz Fillet Mignon, Side Salad (no dressing), Steamed Broccoli

80 oz of water

According to his food log, he also took 2 teaspoons of fish oil before bed.

Like I said, this isn't that bad compared to what I usually see. EXCEPT FOR BREAKFAST.

Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. This will quick start your metabolism since it hasn't been doing much from sleeping eight hours (read this post on the importance of sleep).

Granola sucks for you. It's not a health food like the cereal and grain industry want you to believe. It's nothing more than processed and refined grains and sugar.

If possible, I like to start my day with red meat (my favorites are grass fed beef, bison, or ostrich patty with eggs or a handful of nuts. The patty is about half a pound, 4 whole eggs if I'm having them (don't throw out the yolk, it's the healthiest part of the egg) or if it's nuts I any of the following:

• cashews (my personal favorite)
• macadamia nuts
• brazil nuts
• walnuts
• almonds

Of course, there's tons more. The one I'm not a fan of is peanuts. There's to much used in everyday cooking which causes a peanut allergen for a lot of people.

And the last thing I have is a paleo greens drink (I tried to post the picture right next to this paragraph but apparently you can't so it's at the top. This is a product that is phenomenal for you made by Designs For Health. I'm not a great cook, usually pressed for time, and honestly don't like vegetables that much (at least when I make them). So I choose to drink them instead. You end up getting like four servings of organic vegetables with just a tablespoon in 8 to 10 ounces of water. And it tastes good to boot.

That's it. Changing just breakfast alone will make a huge difference for anyone either missing it completely, or eating crap like the food log above.

Training For The Naga (North American Grapplers Assoc)

With only five to six weeks out from the Naga and several people competing, we're forced to attempt to bring on the fastest adaptation possible. So we're doing sprints for 45 seconds, then resting 4 minutes.

Everyone was above average on conditioning so we switched the rest interval to 3 minutes. 

Again, we need to perform this twice a week for it to really work. Once is like taking one step forward, one step backward because to much rest took place between training sessions.

Every week we'll reduce the rest intervals by 15 seconds. This will bring about the adaptation we're seeking, which is removing waste by-products so you don't gas out on the mat.

Here's the video from the training session. It's a little boring, so I'll work on making these more entertaining.

As soon as the training session ends, we need to get out of the catabolic environment that the training put us in. Like I mentioned at the park, while training, stress hormones are rising and androgens are slowly lowering. We want to lower cortisol (the main stress hormone that's been raised) and replenish amino acids as quick as possible. The best way to do this is with a liquid meal (protein shake). Minimal digestion is required, so you replenish the amino acids and glucose / glycogen much faster than a solid meal.

If your body fat isn't below 10% (I can check this for you with skin fold measurements), you'll need about .66 grams times body weight along with glutamine. If you're under 10% body fat, insulin is your friend, so you'd get about a 2 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.

We want to pick a protein powder that doesn't have artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, neotame, splenda. These are neuro-toxic and also bad for your liver. I like Designs For Health's Whey Cool or Jay Rob's. Designs For Health is kinda pricey, so for the tournament, I'll see about getting it for you a whole sale cost.

Stay posted for more videos and tips on training and nutrition.

MMA Fighter Cliff Oneal And His Rode To The Ultimate Fighter Show

Cliff is getting ready for try outs for the next season of "The Ultimate Fighter" show. Right now he's about four weeks out from the initial try out.

We had to see where he predominantly stores his body fat so I could put him on the right diet for him, and we had to see where he was in regards to conditioning so I had him do a death circuit.

4 sets of 12 reps (or best with chin ups) with 60 seconds rest between exercises and 90 seconds rest between circuits. We did

• Barbell Back Squats
  
• Neutral Grip Chins
  
• Dumbbell Reverse Lunge Off Podium
  
• Body Weight Dips
  

Check out the video!

Stay tuned for more great videos as well as Cliff's rode to the Ultimate Fighter Show!

Ask Coach Grayson

Q: I've been training for the past 6 months. I'm 5'9 220 lbs, 22% body fat and I'm 28yrs old. I train 5 days a week, and I can't seem to break through 220lbs (started at 257lbs). I've been stuck there for 3 weeks. I've been taking fat burners for a month and see no significant changes. I have mostly belly fat, no real problem areas except around the gut. My goal is to get between 185-195 lbs. and finally I'll admit my diet is soft, not bad just I'm not strict. So my question is:

What can I do to break through 220lbs and lose this embarrassing gut? It's obvious my diet and training aren't working, should I get off the fat burners, and if so what supplements do you recommend to obtain my goal. Any advice, tips and help is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Tom S.

Based off the info you've given me, I can tell you this much. 

• You're not carb tolerant or your body fat would have never got that high. 
  
• Since you're storing the majority of your fat around your mid section, you're more than likely eating foods that you have an intolerance to. Or you might just have adrenal problems from stress, or both.
  

1. You should be eating a paleolithic diet, which basically means, eat like a caveman. Anything a caveman could've eaten is fair game. So bread, pasta, cereal, anything in a box, are all out. When you grocery shopping, just shop the fringes / outer edges of the store. Where the produce (fruits and vegetables) and meat, poultry, and fish are. Anything that had a face (animal or fish) and any vegetable, especially green ones.
   
2. I wouldn't take any fat burners. Most of them are stimulants which can cause adrenal problems. Adrenal fatigue can bring on a host of other problems.
3. Try and eat every three hours so your blood sugar remains stable and your metabolism remains elevated. 
4. Stop eating about two hours before you go to bed so you have good sleep quality. Growth hormone is elevated while you sleep and that's one of the most important hormones for weight loss (fat loss). Also, get eight hours of sleep. Read this post on the importance of sleep quality.
5. As soon as you wake up, drink 24 ounces of water and then eat a dopamine dominant breakfast. Two of my favorites are meat and nuts (I like macadamia nuts, cashews, or walnuts) or meat and eggs (don't throw out the yolks, it's the best part of the egg and doesn't cause cholesterol problems like the grain industry wants you to believe).

As far as supplements go, here's where everyone should start.

• Fish oil: If you want to lose weight fast, take as many grams of fish oil as your body fat percentage. So if you're 22% body fat, take roughly 22 grams of fish oil a day in divided dosages. So if you ate five meals a day, that would be roughly 4 to 5 grams per meal.
• Take a quality multi-vitamin. I have my athletes take an Albion Mineral Chelated form. This assures absorption. Designs For Health makes a good one that Adem can get for you at Gracie Bara.
• Take a chelated form of zinc and magnesium. Since we don't know how deficient you are with zinc, I recommend getting a zinc in liquid form (often referred to as a zinc challenge test). Once you start tasting metal we'd reduce your dosage. With magnesium, take around 500 mg with dinner and another 500 mg right before bed. You'll sleep like a baby.

In the end it all comes down to this. Is your WHY big enough? If I asked YOU what your training goals were I you said what you told me above. I'd ask you why. Your reason or your WHY hasn't been important enough for you so far or your diet wouldn't be soft. You're going to have to be more strict. What got you from 257 down to 220 won't get you down from 220 to 185. There is no magic pill. In the end it's your discipline... your WHY.

I hope you take my advice, because I have never seen it not work if given 90% compliance. Notice not 100%, so there is some room for error.
 

How Good Is Your Sleep Quality?

How good would you say you sleep? Most people reply with “I sleep good”. The truth is most don’t. Did you know that roughly 70% of Americans suffer from a sleep disorder?

Here is an 8-point questionnaire to see how you rank.

1. Do you have trouble falling asleep at night?
   
2. Do you wake up with energy or do you want to hit the snooze button in the morning? 
   
3. Do you sleep less than 8 hours a night?
   
4. Do you wake up once or more during the night?
   
5. Do you sleep in a room with any light or noise?
   
6. Do you wake up feeling tired?
   
7. Do you wake up only to an alarm?
   
8. Do you use over the counter or prescription medications for sleep?
   

If you answered yes to two or more of these questions than you will need to address your sleep issues in order to maximize your energy, attitude, and results in the gym.

Sleep is the time that your body repairs and regenerates itself. Without quality sleep you will never achieve your full potential when it comes to a very low body fat percentage or becoming as strong as you could be. Research shows that even one night of little to no sleep can seriously impair your performance whether it is in the office, weight room, or in your sport. Having good sleep hygiene is essential for our overall health and well being. Here are two common problems that can affect your sleep negatively.

Oxidative Stress:
The oxygen that we breathe in helps our bodies convert food into energy. Unfortunately, this process also creates unstable oxygen molecules. These molecules cause damage to surrounding molecules and tissues and are called free radicals. Once these free radicals exceed our bodies’ antioxidant stores, oxidative stress occurs.

Some of the things that cause this are pollution, chemical exposure, poor food choices and stress. Since exercise is stress it is also included. Just taking any antioxidant is not the answer. This can actually cause more free radical damage. Knowing the right ones to take is the key.

Adrenal Fatigue/Burnout:
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and aid or influence nearly every physiological process in our body.

Here's some of the functions that this gland plays:

• Aids insulin for proper glucose metabolism
  
• Regulates blood pressure
  
• Immune function
  
• Controls the anti-inflammatory hormones
  
• Plays a major role in sex hormones and eventually becomes the main source with age
  
• Fluid and electrolyte balance
  

One of the hormones the adrenal gland produces is cortisol. This hormone is supposed to have a descending curve, highest in the morning and lowest in the evening. Since it’s also secreted during times of stress it is also referred to as the “stress hormone”. The only time there should be high amounts present in the blood is while working out (since it is a product of how much energy you have) or during a “fight or flight” response because you’re in danger.

In today’s society, our bodies’ levels of this hormone fluctuate out of rhythm though. This can be due to stress from work, your spouse or children, a cold and even your diet. Every little stressor, if not managed properly, reduces normal adrenal function.

Here's a few signs of adrenal fatigue:

• Difficulty getting up in the morning
  
• Craving sugar or needing stimulants such as coffee to get you through the day
  
• Impaired cognitive performance
  
• Increased abdominal fat
  
• Light-headedness from standing too quickly
  
• Decreased sex drive
  
• Difficulty falling asleep at night
  

And finally, here are 10 suggestions on how to fix these problems.

1. Take magnesium in a true Albion mineral chelated form. Taking 500 mg with dinner will help lower cortisol and relax you. Take another 500 mg right before bed.
   
2. Eat vegetables at every meal. If you don’t like eating vegetables than drink them. Paleo Greens by Designs for Health is what we use at (GTS). This is the best greens product I have seen on the market but you must be a health practitioner to get it.
   
3. Take a quality multi vitamin that is a true Albion mineral chelate.
   
4. Take one tbsp of Celtic sea salt with an 8-ounce glass of water immediately upon waking up.
   
5. Eat breakfast as soon as you possibly can once you’ve woken up.
   
6. Stop eating within two hours before bed.
   
7. Drink plenty of water throughout the day. If you want to drink something else drink green tea.
   
8. Don’t go more than three hours without eating.
   
9. If possible, exercise earlier in the day.
   
10. Stay away from stimulants in pill or liquid form. If you’re a coffee drinker and you refuse to stop, limit it to one cup in the morning.
    

These issues discussed in this article can be quite complex. Although the suggestions made would help practically everyone if adopted, they’re still just suggestions. Depending on how fatigued or burned out you are, would determine a specific protocol.

There are seven stages of adrenal fatigue and cannot be properly diagnosed without be tested. The only true way of knowing what stage you’re in is by having an adrenal stress index (ASI) test done. They only cost around $100 and are well worth the investment. If you’re not interested in spending the money on the test, yet still have some of the symptoms, you can take certain natural herbs and adaptogens that won’t hurt you.

If you have any of these symptoms and would like to know how to fix them in greater detail, you can contact me at chris@chrisgrayson.net and I will be happy tell you what to do.

Ignorance, Error, And Immediate Interest

According to the Law of Unintended Consequences, almost every action generates at least one unintended consequence.

Robert K. Merton, a twentieth-century sociologist, identified five potential causes of unintended consequences:

• Ignorance
• Error
• Immediacy Of Interest
• Basic Values
• Self-defeating Prophecy

All five of these points can be attributed to exercise, and why you might not be getting the results you're striving for.

Ignorance:  The fact that you probably don't train people for a living, lack of knowledge, interpretation, or poor resources could result in negative outcomes.

I'll give you a great example.

People constantly tell me that they're going to run a marathon. Once I start asking questions about why they've decided this, I usually find out it's because they associate running with being fit. These people have been told that if they do aerobics, they will be fit, lean, and healthy.

This is flat-out not true and not going to happen. But here's what will:

1. They will lose some weight, but most of it will come from muscle.
   
2. They will slow down their metabolism and potentially damage it from losing to much muscle.
3. They will increase free radical damage from the oxidative stress associated with the long duration of training (especially if performed outside in the big city because of pollution).
4. They will increase the aging process because of number 3.

Error: Again, incorrect analysis of a problem often leads to negative outcomes, as does adopting habits or behavior that may have worked in the past but may not apply to the present.

As Albert Einstein observed, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

What you've done with your training that got you where you're currently at, won't work forever. So if you're doing the same thing over and over again because you've been told it would work, and it's not, probably won't magically start working all of a sudden.

Immediacy of Interest: Acting for self-serving reasons or acting with the immediate payoff in mind rather than your long term interests, is a major problem with achieving your desired results. This is more of a willful ignorance than a true ignorance. I'm sure you've heard this before: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I personally think it might be better associated with stubbornness and stress.

Whether your negative unintended results come as a result of ignorance and error, or immediate interest, these unwanted outcomes cannot always be controlled or entirely avoided.

Knowledge, awareness, and experience can reduce these negative effects created by true ignorance, lack of experience, insufficient data / resources, and incorrect assumptions.

After training people for over a decade and making boat loads of mistakes myself, I can save you a lot of time, money, and energy.

"Chris has taken me to the next level by holding me accountable. He is so passionate about the personal programs that he develops that I feel I owe it to him as much as I do myself! No one will push you harder and no one has the combination of knowledge and experience that Chris Grayson possesses. He has taken my training to the level I have always wanted, but was unable to achieve by myself. Working smarter and more efficiently has actually cut the amount of time I was spending at the gym, and also cut out the boring cardio. Chris will get you the results you want, and allow you to reach goals you thought were unobtainable!”

Shane Rickman - Business Executive

Questioning Traditionalism: Doing The opposite To Get Results

Today was my first day back kickboxing at the Gracie Barra Academy.

I must admit, I didn't want to go. 

I knew the workout would be hard. I new I'd be a bit rusty since I haven't trained with a professional since the beginning of February, and to be honest, I'm a bit competitive and can be quite hard on myself if I don't do something as good as I think I should.

But I still went. And I felt great for it.

As you can see, getting to the gym (or in this case my training academy) can be the hardest part. Even for someone that does it for a living and is dopamine dominant.

So let me tell you what drives me crazy.

I see this guy that I have trained with before, doing a bunch of aerobic-based training on a treadmill and then he switches to an elliptical machine. He must of spent roughly 20 minutes on each piece. 

This drives me crazy because that is the one energy system (the oxidative system or just think aerobics) that really shouldn't be bothered with as far as training goes. Not for any grappling sport.

The grappling sports such as judo, jiu- jitsu, wrestling, and mixed martial arts to name a few.

These sports are anaerobic based not aerobic based. You won't get stronger, faster, or better at the sport by training the aerobic system (oxidative system). In fact, there's a good change you'll lose muscle, get weaker, and get slower.

So if this traditional method doesn't work and is completely irrelevant, then why are these athletes still doing it you should ask?

Because we tend to stick with what's expected and go with what we know-because it's safe, easy, and it's what everyone else is doing and telling us to do. We tend to do what's traditional, or a part of the sport, even if it's no longer effective.

Sometimes adopting a contrarian mindset (opposing or rejecting popular opinion; going against current practice) is your best strategy.  You have to use your intellect, your common sense.

Bruce Lee did just that when he developed Jeet Kune Do. Every other martial artist out there at the time said he was crazy and he didn't know what he was talking about. You can't go against tradition he was told.

And look at MMA today. You must say he's the grand father of the movement.

Now let me leave you with some quick advice after my long winded rant.

Stop doing slow steady state aerobics!

I don't care if it's on a treadmill, bike, elliptical, or jogging outside.

I don't care if you're not an MMA competitor, you're in a grappling sport, or if you're just trying to be healthy.

It won't work. It's the worst training method for fat loss and having a healthy heart has nothing to do with aerobics. It's the absence of disease.

If you want to lose body fat, become better at an anaerobic sport, and save yourself a lot of time... start doing interval training.

Here's one practical example for you. 

Let me say that again.

Here's just one practical example.

Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds.

Walk at a regular pace for 3 minutes.

Repeat 6 times.

Do this twice a week, and every week shave 15 seconds off your walking time.

So the next week would look like this.

Sprint as fast as you can for 30 seconds.

Walk at a regular pace for 2 minutes 45 seconds.

Repeat 6 times.

Do this for 6 weeks straight and at the end you'll be resting for only 90 seconds which is a 1:3 work to rest ratio.

You'll be leaner, more conditioned for your sport, and you'll probably put on some muscle.

Stay Focused,

Chris Grayson

Hypertrophy 101: What You Need To Know To Grow

“I've been training for 3 years, but my programs were nothing compared to the ones Chris put me on. My strength shot through the roof and I am the leanest I've ever been.  No doubt about it, Chris is one of the top strength coaches in the nation. Yeah, I said it, nation! Their was not one question that he couldn't give me a full explanation for. I gained more knowledge working with him then I would've got anywhere else!”
 
Jordan Crespi - Future Strength & Conditioning Coach
 
Q: One thing too, I'm gonna start doing some hypertrophy work. Should I keep the split the same and exercise choice...?

A: I don't remember your split completely, but from my memory you were doing upper / lower splits. If I'm correct, I would go to a 3 training rotation instead of a 2. For hypertrophy work, you need more volume per muscle group to cause a lot of trauma to the muscle or muscles being trained. In this case, getting really sore is the key.

I like this split a lot. It’s worked very well for me and everyone I’ve ever used it on.

Legs on one day
Chest and Back on one day
Shoulders and Arms on one day

Train each muscle group every fifth day. So if you trained legs on Monday, you wouldn't train them again until Saturday. 

Here's a good layout:

Monday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest & Back
Thursday: Shoulders & Arms
Friday: Off
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Off
Monday: Chest & Back
Tuesday: Shoulders & Arms

You see the pattern.

Obviously, make sure you're picking exercises that give you the biggest ROI (Return ON Investment).

Do your isolated exercises after you've done your compound exercises and start each compound exercise with a lower rep range to take advantage on post tetanic facilitation (you recruit as many high thresh hold motor units as possible first with big weight, low reps).

Now hypertrophy them with reps in the best hypertrophy ranges. First 6-8 reps, then 8-12 reps. This way you're recruiting damn near every fiber type that can hypertrophy.

So for legs, it might look like this:

A:  Front Squats: 4 sets of 2,4,2,4  TEMPO 3010    Rest: 180 secs
Try to beat your first wave of 2,4 on your next wave of 2,4.

B1: Barbell Reverse Lunge: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 2010 (OR CONTROLLED)  Rest: 90 secs
B2: Glute Ham Raise: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 3010  Rest: 90 secs

C1: Barbell Step Up, Between Mid-Shin and Knee Level: 3 sets of 10-12 Tempo Controlled  Rest: 75 secs
C2: Dumbbell Romanian Dead Lift: 3 sets of 10-12  TEMPO: 3010  Rest: 75 secs

D1: Donkey Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8,10,12  TEMPO 2210  Rest: 10 secs
D2: Parillo Calf Squat: 3 sets of 10-12 TEMPO 1013  Rest: 75-90 secs

So we're knocking off several different fiber types with different rep ranges and tension times and changing angles. The more angles, rep ranges, TUT's (time under tension), and to a degree, volume, equals more damage to the muscles which equals more hypertrophy.

Write everything down so you can measure and track it (what gets measured, gets improved). Make an effort to go up in weight every workout. Once you’re not going up in weight or in reps with the same weight, you’ve adapted to the program so it needs to be changed for different stimulus.

Try to keep your workouts to no longer than an hour after you’ve done your warm-up. And make sure you’re pounding food. Literally eat like it’s your job.

Since you’re carb tolerant, I’d have a protein / carb shake immediately after your last set of your last exercise with a ratio around 1 : 2 protein to carb. And if you can afford it, take BCAA’s during your workout. I like Poliquin’s BCAA Supreme since they’re pills. You’ll need at least 20 grams though and 40 would be better.

Eat a large meal between 30-45 minutes after your shake, and then go on eating every two to three hours.

Let me know if you need any help.

Stay focused,

Chris Grayson

Back At Gracie Barra Chicago

I just moved back to Chicago on saturday and have been pretty busy. We had to move the GTS Performance facility to another location because of the city, so I decided to move back to one of the best cities in the U.S.

The one thing that will take some getting used to is not training in my own private gym. The last thing I want to do is go back to training in your typical membership gym filled with a bunch of useless equipment and people balancing on bosu balls and sitting on worthless over priced machines.

I'd rather train in the dungeon. Check out the video.