Youths Need Better Coaches

Youth athletes need better coaches in my opinion. What you often see is that these are the roles filled with volunteers but I think it is backwards and money should be invested in coaches for these younger age groups. It is much easier to start out the right way then it is to correct problems and injuries later on down the track.

The problem is that many clubs aren’t willing to invest money into professionals for these levels. They tend to hope that the kids will develop naturally, physically, and hope that they get by skill wise with their natural ability until later ages when they do get some more specialised coaching.

So, what I see happen a lot is that the gym is overseen by someone who has the most basic of requirements and is looking to post a few things on social media to try and use the role to build their business. The sad thing is they have no idea about program design or even correct technique for that matter, and the kids tend to either get injured or miss out on key development years, from both a technical stand point, and a physical one.

It would not take a lot of money to fix this problem. In doing so, you could also offer much more to the athletes. Programs would be individualised, they could have nutrition plans, they could be trained in smaller groups, which would mean they are coached through each rep, everything being monitored and updated regularly. By doing this, results would improve, injuries would be reduced, there would be accountability, the club would be looked at more professionally, and they would build a much better culture.

It is an investment, not a cost.

We have young kids on contracts but I think the money spent should be re-invested into their development. For example, you have a kid on a $5,000 contract. That amount of money is a lot for a 14-year-old who hasn’t proven himself yet, but it isn’t going to change his life. Why not use that money to pay a coach to train him privately, look after his nutrition, conditioning, rehab/prehab etc.? That way you can see exactly how they are progressing, they are accountable, and they have some buy in to the relationship. At the moment, most kids get a contract, do the minimum with the club, and then are back to park footy two years later. I feel more can be done to guide them through the process.

We do this privately and it has worked very well over the years with great success. If clubs invested more into the development of the athletes, we would see a much better game. Some clubs do it pretty well and are well ahead of the ones who don’t.

Whey Protein Could Be the Cause of Your Acne

 If you have eliminated sugars and dairy in your diet but are still consuming whey protein post workout, this could be the cause of your acne, especially if it is located on the trunk. It is commonly overlooked as many people don't recognize that whey is isolated from milk.

I made this mistake myself recently. As a teenager I had really bad acne so I still get some outbreaks here and there, but nothing major. These past few months I have been having whey post-workout again after having been off it for a long time, and noticed a lot of acne starting on my back and shoulders. I'm going back to EEAs post workout now to see if it is the whey causing the acne.

Looking at some studies, whey is a fairly common cause of these outbreaks so if you have been seeing an increase in the amount of acne on your trunk and can't relate it to your nutrition, whey could be the source of the problem that you may have missed.

If you are worried about a post-workout shake of some sort, then you could take something like the following mix:

• 15g BCAAs

• 15g EAAs

• 10g Glutamine

• 5g Creatine

• 5g Glycine

Depending on your goals, you can tailor it to your needs.

Improving Each Preparation

 Throwback to when @igoralmeidabjj was prepping for @ibjjf Pan-Ams.

Starting with a solid base allows you to make small changes with big results.

Every year @igoralmeidabjj came back leaner and leaner, making his preparation period easier both mentally and physically.

This is what you want to strive for as an athlete. Your offseason is not a time to become unfit and overweight.

Igor Almeida Prep for Pan Ams

Optimizing Adult Protein Intake During Catabolic Health Conditions

I read this study this morning and found it very informative. Thanks to Dr. Gabrielle Lyon for sharing.

Things that stood out for me:

"The RDA for protein has been previously reviewed and found to be inadequate for older persons (2). A presumed reason for the inadequacy of the protein RDA for older persons is a phenomenon known as the “anabolic resistance” of skeletal muscle. Anabolic resistance is the phenomenon within skeletal muscles of older persons when there is an attenuated response of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) to resistance exercise (3) and ingestion of protein (4, 5). Protein synthesis is a critical component of the natural turnover of proteins required for continuous repair and remodeling of skeletal muscle to maintain strength and functional mobility.

The age-related reduction in the sensitivity of MPS to exercise or protein can be overcome with greater volumes of resistance exercise (6) or greater doses of protein (4); however, greater exercise volumes may be impractical for many older persons. There is also no doubt that a reduction in either habitual physical activity or muscle disuse also bring about a state of anabolic resistance (7, 8). Thus, inactivity or disuse as part of aging per se may be a predominant reason for older persons requiring more protein."

"In skeletal muscle, the essential amino acid leucine provides a unique translation signal. Indeed, the leucine content of a meal is an important determinant of the potential of a meal to support the complex process of protein synthesis. Specifically, leucine stimulates the mTORC1 (mechanistic target of rapamycin) signal cascade resulting in assembly of the eIF4F (initiation factor 4F) initiation complex and activation of the ribosomal protein S6. The eIF4F complex accelerates the assembly of ribosomes on available mRNAs and the S6 protein allows ribosomes to target mRNAs that enhance the overall capacity for protein synthesis. These signals are downregulated during short-term catabolic conditions such as an overnight fast, acute bed rest, or exhaustive exercise. When these signals are downregulated, the composition of the next meal is critical to optimize the anabolic recovery. This stimulation and regulation of muscle protein anabolism becomes increasingly important with advancing age as muscle becomes less sensitive to routine anabolic signals from hormones (i.e., insulin and IGF-1: insulin-like growth factor-1), protein ingestion, and physical activity (4, 17)."

"Thus, it may be, based on an increased dietary need for leucine to overcome the anabolic resistance of aging (34–37), that the leucine content of proteins becomes an increasingly important component of protein quality in older persons."

"In terms of defining what constitutes “healthy” or “unhealthy,” we posit that any individual experiencing anabolic resistance (via any mechanism) or increased catabolic burden, warrants a dietary intervention that includes an appropriately greater absolute and relative amount of high-quality dietary protein (98)."

"Dietary protein and amino acid metabolism may be leveraged to optimize glycemic regulations.

TABLE 1 Metabolic regulation with diets high in glucose versus amino acids

High-carbohydrate, low-protein diet (>50% of energy from carbohydrates; 0.8 g/kg protein) 

• Produces rapid postmeal increases in blood glucose
• Postmeal hyperglycemia must be eliminated within 2 h
• Rapid increase in insulin; biphasic response from the pancreas
• Increased recycling of glucose via lactic acid to gluconeogenesis (Cori cycle)
• Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle

Moderate carbohydrate, higher protein (25 to 40% of energy from carbohydrates; 1.6 g/kg protein) 

• Free amino acids have slow postmeal metabolism; >5 h
• Amino acids slowly produce glucose via gluconeogenesis
• Amino acids stimulate Phase I insulin only
• Amino acids recycle glucose via alanine and not lactic acid
• Stimulation of fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle
• Stimulation of muscle protein synthesis

"In young, physically active, normal weight adults with normal insulin sensitivity, glucose homeostasis can be achieved across a wide range of dietary carbohydrate and protein intakes. However, in aging adults, as muscle mass, physical activity, and insulin sensitivity decrease, and glucose tolerance declines, the potential use of diets with higher protein and reduced carbohydrates needs to be more fully studied.

Three aspects of metabolic regulation serve to highlight critical differences arising from shifting the balance between dietary carbohydrates and proteins. The first is postmeal utilization of the metabolic substrates (i.e., glucose versus amino acids), the second is the insulinogenic response of the pancreas, and the third is the regulatory response in skeletal muscle."

"Emerging evidence reveals the optimal protein intake is more than simply a percentage of daily energy but a meal-to-meal decision about protein quantity and quality. Factors including increasing age and declining physical activity reduce the efficiency of protein turnover especially in skeletal muscle resulting in reduced mass, strength, and metabolic regulation. The reduced efficiency, characterized as anabolic resistance, can be overcome, at least in part, by increasing protein quantity and quality at individual meals."

The Importance of Nutrition and Adherence

Below is a post from one of our clients, Reece, who came to see us for some help with his nutrition plan.

Reece Body Comp Before and After 12 Weeks

"Before: 105.2kg, 17.9% body fat, 86.5kg lean muscle mass - After: 96.2kg, 10.6% body fat, 86kg lean mass - Signed up with @totalhealthperformance to assist me with my nutrition and my results are beyond what I could imagine, even after my training going from 6 days to barely any 2 weeks in, we still reached the goal of 10%bf. Thanks to Nathan i’m leaner than I’ve ever been and my lowest weight since I was 13 years old. Signed up again for a nutrition/training program and can’t wait to see what I can achieve with THP this time. #goals #nomoreheavyweight #newweightclass"

As Reece mentions in his post, he went from grappling 6 days a week to barely training at all due to the lock down. By being disciplined with his nutrition, he was still able to lose 9kg, 7.3% body fat, and only lost 0.5kg of lean muscle. These are very good results.

What it really highlights to me is the importance of having a proper nutrition plan in place. I see way too many people doing a lot of training sessions that they would not otherwise have to do if they just prioritised their nutrition. It is like the old saying “you can’t out train a bad diet”, but in a lot of cases I see they kind of do. A lot of athletes remain in decent shape despite a pretty poor diet but only because they do so much more work than they need to be doing to maintain that level of body composition and conditioning. If they were to prioritise their nutrition, like Reece has here, they would have more time and energy to dedicate to other things like technical skills, strength, recovery, or just have more time to be able to do things they enjoy in general.

The other thing Reece’s results show, is the importance of discipline and adherence to the plan. He even had a buck’s party in Melbourne during this time, and he still managed to stay on track enough to get the results he was after. It doesn’t matter what advice I give, if Reece didn’t implement the advice given, he would not get the results. The perfect plan not implemented is worthless. This is the biggest problem I face. It is whether or not the client really wants to change or just likes the idea of it. Too many people say they want this or that but then don’t ever implement the things needed to achieve their goals. They may for a week but they get lazy and decide to stay as they were. I can want them to be successful as all I want but if the individual doesn’t want to implement any advice, there is nothing I can do about it.

Obviously, I try many different tactics to try and get them to make some small changes and hopefully get them to develop some new habits, but the simple fact is, people either really want to change or they don’t. This will show in their actions. I am not a psychologist and don’t want to be so it is not enjoyable for me trying to convince people to make changes in their life. It doesn’t really matter to me. If you want help, I’ll help, but if you don’t do the things that need to be done, I’m useless.

Someone like Reece is a pleasure to work with. It makes me happy to see him get the results for his hard work and dedication. I look forward to seeing further results from him in the coming weeks, and when the restrictions from this virus are lifted, watching him compete.