Friday, December 28, 2012

The Nutrition Rant #2 - Alcohol

Hi Folks!
In the fitness community there are tons of arguments about the effects of different drugs and how they influence sports performance of any kind.
In this article I wanna talk to you about my opinion and approach to alcohol consumption and it's relation to sports performance which as you might know in my case is mainly CrossFit, basketball and swimming.

Fuck studies. Just as I do, probably every single one of you have some sort of experience with alcohol either good or bad. Let's get started with this. You've probably predicted that the negative effects can't be derived from the chicks you get while partying neither the brawls you may get into. Ain't no problem with that.
Here's the deal. You know that when you get drunk you get thirsty. And it may sound surprising but it's the sign of dehydration. As you may or may not know
the human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on age, gender and amount of body fat, and water is essential to human life.

Water forms the basis for all fluids in the body, such as blood and digestive juices, and it's the catalyst in all metabolic functions throughout the body. Water removes toxins and waste products from the body, and it carries nutrients to the cells of the body.

Your body is dynamic and always changing, and this is especially true with regard to water in your body. You lose water routinely when your body performs normal functions such as breathing, sweating and eliminating waste. In a typical day, you need to consume a substantial amount of water to replace this routine loss. Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving your body is greater than the amount being taken in.

Severe dehydration can cause symptoms such as extreme thirst, lack of sweating, rapid heartbeat and delirium, and it can be life threatening. But most people who experience dehydration experience mild to moderate dehydration.

Here are the effects of dehydration at a mild to moderate level:
  • Fatigue
  • Muscle weakness
  • Poor concentration
  • Headaches
  • Dizziness or light headedness
  • Decreased metabolism
  • Decreased protein synthesis

Besides the tons of other effects of alcohol I think this is the one you can not argue with. With that kept in mind my advices would be:
  1. Do not drink more than once in 2 weeks!
  2. Chose one type of alcohol(eg.:Vodka) for one occasion and don't mix 'em!
  3. When it comes to the amount you can drink it's very different for every individual so my advice would be: Only drink until you start feeling thirsty!
  4. Consume lots of water during and after drinking alcohol! I really mean a lot like 2-3liters per occasion!
  5. Take multivitamins directly before or after you've been consuming alcohol! That helps reducing the losses in the vitamins and minerals in your body caused by alcohol consumption.

 I think everyone should have their very own thoughts and opinions about consuming these substances but there are some people who tend to go overly religious about it and they get to a point where they can not accept any other perspectives. Don't be that guy.
Thanks everyone for reading!!
I hope it was useful and gave you some perspective.
Feel free to ask and comment!!
follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss


Thursday, December 27, 2012

Monday, December 24, 2012

The Nutrition Rant #1 - The Basics

Hey Folks!
This right here is gonna be a series about nutrition.
I'm trying to cover various aspects of this very controversy topic If you have any questions to discuss feel free to leave them in the comment section.

First, I'd like to make it clear that when it comes to nutrition every single person's needs are different so with that said I wanna discuss the basic principles that suit everybody and every single person who is willing to be healthy and fit should keep in mind.
Second, is that along the way when we get over basic health principles, nutrition for an average person, and for and athlete(average person with increased physical activity of any kinds) gonna be two different things. This may piss off a couple people but it's all good...
I'm gonna give a list of sources where I got my knowledge from and from where you can find interesting thoughts about nutrition and you can broaden your knowledge if you'd are interested.

This is the food pyramid that I've found very legit and I think a person who wants to take the first steps towards a healthy lifestyle can only look at it and know where to start.

Perhaps the most underrated and left-out component of nutrition in water.
Our body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on age, gender and amount of body fat so it's essential to have the right amount of water intake that can satisfy the needs of our body.
So how much should we drink?
How much water should we drink?  Dr. F. Batmanghelidj (Your Body’s Many Cries for Water) recommends the following: Bodyweight(lbs)/2 = how many ounces a day.  So if I weigh 180lbs, that’s 90 ounces a day, or about 11 glasses of water, or 2 ½ Nalgene Bottles.
Tips on drinking water:
  • Prior to training – drink at least 16 ounces a couple hours before exercise.
  • During training – keep water handy and drink 6-8 ounces every 15 minutes.
  • If you are a CrossFitter I don't recommend you drinking water during a WOD if it's 20 mins or less.
  • After training – try to replace the fluids you lost within an hour of finishing.
When it's about the type of water that you should be drinking(tap, mineral...) it's really hard to tell because in different parts of the world the quality of the water can be really diverse. My recommendation is to drink mineral water. Brand and source does not matter the only think you should really pay attention to is TDS or Total Dissolved Solids. In my recommendation is you should only drink water of any kinds that has 300+mg/l Total Dissolved Solids. This way it won't wash out the minerals in your body but it will replace them. (you can find out more about TDS here)

The second level on our pyramid is vegetables and fruits. The ratio is a great topic topic to argue about but now I'm not gonna go there, we rather agree that you need somewhat more vegetables than fruits.  Vegetables are nutrition powehouses packed with a variety of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals(cancer fighting compounds), fiber(helps digestion, satisfies your hunger) and food pyramidlow glycemic carbs(won't rise your blood sugar level). You should consume fresh veggies with every meal.(meal frequency, timing and macro nutrient ratios gonna be in another article of mine)

The third category is protein sources. The basics you should need to know about protein is that proteins have a variety of very important functions within the body. First and foremost, proteins are responsible for growth and maintenance of all body cells and structures(bone, muscle, blood cells, skin and hair). They are also the primary component of enzymes, proteins which help facilitate many of the chemical reactions within the body, including digestion. Proteins are also integral in the production of hormones like insulin, thyroid hormones, estrogen and testosterone.
My honest recommendation is to eat all kinds of protein as long as it's from natural source except soy!(I'm gonna talk about this in another article) And the most important note when it comes down to protein is don't get caught up in the hypes. If you don't believe me trust your God or whatever you believe in. Nature didn't fuck up! If you really think you gonna be fat, unhealthy and you gonna die by eating meat you're stupid.(vegans gonna be discussed in another article)

Our next stage on the pyramid is fats. First, let’s dig into the word “fat.” Depending on the context, “fat” can sometimes mean “adipose tissue,” the soft stuff that hangs onto your love handles and makes a ribeye tasty. It can also mean “fatty acids,” a group of chemicals that have the same basic structure. When you see the word “fat” in this article, it refers to fatty acids.
Fat is an absolutely essential part of a healthy diet and I think it's very important for people to understand, I'm going to dig a bit deeper into this topic.
I’m gonna break down the three different types of fat.
Saturated Fat
You know saturated fat from animal flesh, dairy products, and coconut. They’re usually solid at room temperature (think butter, coconut oil, and the gristle on the edge of your steak). How much saturated fat should you eat? Thirty years ago, anybody would answer that question: “As little as possible!” But now we know that’s not the full story. Contrary to what we’ve all been told, there is no widely-accepted scientific link between saturated fat and heart disease. Studies so far have never adequately controlled for other dietary and lifestyle factors. Current thinking on saturated fat by itself ranges from neutral to wildly beneficial. Saturated fat from animal products is packed full of nutrients like Vitamin A, D, K, and E. You shouldn’t get 100% of your fat intake from saturated fat, but you don’t need to be scared of saturated fat either—if, and that’s a big “if,” the rest of your diet is in check. That essentially means your carbs all come from fruits, vegetables, and sweet potatoes. One thing we do know for sure is that a diet high in saturated fat and simultaneously high in poor carbs like grains and sugars…well, that’s a recipe for an early grave.
Conclusion:
If you eat a low-moderate carbohydrate diet and get most of your carbs from quality sources, then saturated fat can be an important part of your diet.
Monounsaturated Fat
This is the realm of olives, avocados, and nuts. About half the fat in animal flesh and egg yolk is monounsaturated as well. Monounsaturated fat is great because consuming monounsaturated fat raises your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL). While science is still unsure about a lot of things related to cholesterol, this one is a slam dunk: Increasing your good cholesterol protects you from heart disease. See the connection? Eat monounsaturated fat– raise good cholesterol–protect yourself from heart disease. Dr. Loren Cordain, the driving intellectual force behind the Paleo Diet, has also stated that monounsaturated fat probably comprised the majority of our Paleolithic ancestors’ fat intake.
Conclusion:
Monounsaturated fat is clearly a friend. Strive to make it the primary fat in your diet.
Polyunsaturated Fat
Polyunsaturated fat is hard to discuss.Many polyunsaturated fatty acids are essential to your health, including those in fish oil! But the majority of places you’re likely to encounter large quantities of polyunsaturated fat in the grocery store are bad news. These  exceedingly poor sources are  vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, margarine, soybean oil, Italian dressing, and others.
Conclusion:
If you’re eating quality fat sources like nuts and fatty fish, and supplementing with fish oil, then you’re going to get all the polyunsaturated fat your body needs. No need to seek out more. Avoid most sources of polyunsaturated fat.

The top of the pyramid is the bread, cereal, pasta, bakery product group.
I really don't wanna get deep into this category now. It's enough to know that you should be avoiding foods in this category. It is the hardest to do for someone who just got into the healthy lifestyle but it's definitely one of the most important things to get off these products in order to reach maximum heath.

Helpful Sources:
Books
How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy By Paul Check
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price
The Metabolic Typing Diet by Trish Fahey
The Warrior Diet by Ori Homfekler
The Renegade Diet by Jason Ferruggia
The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf
Zone Diet by Barry Sears
YouTube
Nutrition: The Dirty Facts by Paul Check (MUST WATCH THIS!! BASICS OF EVERYTHING REALTED TO HEALTH)
Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 Part10 Part11 Part12
Part13 Part14 Part15 Part16

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes
Part1 Part2 Part3

Please feel free to comment and ask questions but keep in mind that nutrition is not an exact science. It's okay if someone has a different opinion but don't be religious and overly aggressive about it.
Thanks For Reading! I hope that was helpful. Have a nice day!
everyone please
follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss

Peace Out

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Ways To Start CrossFit

Hi Folks! 
Now I wanna discuss the most minimalist way you can get on the path of CrossFit. Of course the best way to do this is to join an affiliate but in most cases it can be hard to find one near you or you just can not afford it but it's all good as long as you have the determination you can do some steps to "improve your work capacity across brad time and modal domains".
I'm gonna address different scenarios and I'm gonna provide a possibility to most likely be able to mimic CrossFit type workouts in each one of them.
I'm not going to mention any specific workout programs you should just look them up online. Crossfit.com is a great source for that.
So let me start from the very bottom.

This pyramid is very useful to show us where a person should start to get involved into CrossFit lifestyle. It shows the steps to achieve maximum Fitness in order of importance.



 The very basics of a healthy lifestyle and any physical performance id nutrition.
As only nutrition is a whole another topic itself and I don't want to get into the detail in this article I'll just refer to the basics with this brief little summary of the basics. Master healthy nutrition first then you can move on to physical exercise.

Step two being Metabolic Conditioning or as crossfitters call it "MetCon". Basically it's all the activities that you do repetitively and it has an aerobic response to your body such as running, swimming, biking, rowing, jumproping... Do as many combination of short and long distance with vary pace and rest intervals as possible. 


Moving up the pyramid we find gymnastics. Gymnastics is sometimes called "Calisthenics" is everything you do with your own bodyweight such as pushups, pullups, airsquats etc. As you're just starting your CrossFit journey you don't need any special equipment for mastering the basic gymnastic skills and techniques, the only salad thing you need is a bar where you can do pullups.
Here, just as in every of the pyramid you have to apply the basic CrossFit training methods to your training to really achieve maximum Fitness.
As far as the gymnastic strength goes I really reccomend getting your hands on the book Convict Conditioning By Paul Wade. For the various training principles of CrossFit visit Crossfit HQ.



As you may or may not know CrossFit exercises can be divided into 3 major categories: Monostructural(aerobic), Gymnastics and Weightlifting.
The beauty of it is if you are consistent and determined enough you can acquire 66 percent of that with no equipment nor serious coaching needed.

As far as the third exercise category, weightlifting goes it can be described as any physical activity where you are moving and external object.(barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell, medicine ball...) Despite the fact that I'm a great fan of autodidactic learning I would not recommend you jump right into doing any weightlifting without at least a practiced friend's help but I would highly suggest you to visit a coach or attend some weghtlifting classes so they can correct you and you can master the skill and techniques required to move an external object effectively and efficiently. If you don't do so, you can have a great risk of injury by working with weight because of the restrictions and imbalances in you body due to inactive and unnatural lifestyle.

If you can not afford membership to a weightlifting community of any kind and your goal is not to be a CrossFit athlete it's absolutely not necessary. You can achieve great levels of fitness without touching any weight or going into any gym, box or fitness facility. For this I'll put some very useful and handy resources below.  If you fell like you need to do weightlifting the best thing I can advice you is to commit beside the thought that you gonna do whatever you need to get the membership, go out there and do the work!

Finally, the top of our pyramid is Sport. Sports of any kind what you like doing weather recreationally or or competitively. Here is where all the other part pays off so that you can move efficiently and effectively.

Resources:
Extensive CrossFit Training Guide  Everything You Need To Know About CrossFit Including NUTRITION, EXERCISES, PROGRAMMING...
Convit Conditioning by Paul Wade  Basic Gymnastics Strength Program That Gives Good Foundation


Hope that was helpful   Thanks for reading!!
If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them in the Comment section!
Follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss
peace out
Rob Kiss

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Rant About "Tribes"

Hi Folks!
Yesterday I was watching a very shocking documentary about people Living in the Sewers of Colombia. Then today I was watching Joe Rogan's rant about society with Joey Diaz. They were talking about how we are designed to live in tribes of like 50 or just a couple hundred people. He has had a great point with saying that we can only capable of taking care look after a certain amount of acquaintances. If hundreds of millions are involved in a community no one really cares and no one really counts.
Here comes the interesting part. While I was listening to Joe's podcast I can across this picture on my Facebook.

I was fascinated! I was fascinated by this quote that has subverted the whole concept about civilization we're living in, the conditioning we're receiving since the day we were born and our perspectives about our family, our closest friends and the thousands of people we are interacting with during our everyday lives.   

There was one single sentence that had made me think a lot.:
"When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent, or a blanket, he would in that case, receive it all as a gift."
Now. The first thought that came into my mind after reading this was that nowadays most of the time our tribe (our friends and our family) is made out of people who has the same financial background as we have because mostly they are the people who we have daily contact with and with who's problems, goals, and dreams we can relate to. Essentially those are the factors that bring like-minded individuals together.

So how the fuck would somebody from the sewer of Columbia be able to give food and aid to his friend who recently has been shot by the dethsquad if his eyes are being chewed out by a dog-sized rat?!
How the fuck would a thousand-dollar suit CEO be able to support and help his manically depressed colleague with serious personal life issues, if he's so attached to his Ferrari and his new iPhone with diamond socket that he can not see the value of the things in life anymore only the price of them and he can't even take care of his newborn child because he's working all the time and he thinks with that he only serves his family's good.

Those are just some radical examples but the main point is that if everyone would have the chance to take care of his well chosen tribe of divers people and everyone would be doing it conscientiously it would be far more effective and expedient then expecting changes from occupying the Wall street and protesting like a retarded bitch who has too much free time and has nothing better to do other than marching and yelling some stupid slogan while the moron leaders of the countries are sending raw-raw "patriots" to a foreign country to kill children and the barefooted "enemies of the county" for some ideology that makes them fell like they're related to somewhere instead of just minding their own fucking business at home with their loving environment and having a purpose that serves not only their own well being but the tribe of his own people.
  
Thanks for reading Folks!  
follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss


Sunday, October 28, 2012

If Your Muscles Say No

Hi Folks
In this article I'm going to talk about the fatigue of the central nervous system and it's effect on your performance.

   Whenever you feel like your muscles don't obey to your brain there's a great chance that you've fried your central nervous system.
So the cause why your muscles may not be "responding" properly from time to time can't only be found in your muscles but in your nervous system where the brain is connected with the different parts of your body and electric impulses are running back and forth.

The fatigue of the central nervous system can't only occur because the great amount of workouts that you may do but also sleepless nights, taking too much stimulants(caffeine, taurine...), long flights or bustrips and injury or surgery also has a negative effect on the ability of your brain to "send messages" to your muscles.
The reason behind this is the changed ratio of the neurotransmitters in your body.
Often times the concentration of the neurotransmitter called Serotonin drops or raises and this can cause changes in the mood and in general wellbeing.
For example depression, premenstrual syndrome, general sleepiness and every disease that's symptom is tiredness.

Hope that was informative and helpful, Please Share and if you have any questions feel free to ask 'em
Thanks for reading! Peace Out
Rob Kiss
follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss

Saturday, October 27, 2012

How To Get Your 1st Pullup

Hi Folks
In this article I'm going to discuss how to get your chin over the bar with overhand grip from a dead hang position for the first time without any kipping.
No matter if you are young, old, male, female, crossfitter or just a regular guy, you need to be able to pull your own body up.

There are variations of the pullup where you vary your hand placement or you help yourself up with your legs and your hip but I think for a beginner it's very beneficial to master this basic upper body movement because it's a good indicator of relative body strength

So let's get right into it. I wont name specifically how long and how often should you practice these moves because it's gonna be different for every individual and of course you probably know that the more you practice the quicker the result will come.

These exercises gonna be mentioned in the order of difficulty. The one who can't even hold his/her body at the top position of a pullup going to start with exercise number 1.

#1 Eccentric Descents
      With the very first step of achieving a pullup what you need to do is stepping onto a box or some elevated surface you your chin is right above the bar. From then you grab onto the bar around shoulder with apart with your palms facing away from you. Then you step off the box and start lowering yourself as slow as you can. It's very important to have total control over your body and try not to fall down but get down as slowly and as controlled as possible. Then immediately step right back up and repeat. 
      Do 5 sets of 5 descents of your slowest possible.

#2 Isometric Holds
      If you feel that you can lower your self comfortably and you have total control of your body on the way down now you can move onto the next exercise which is holding your body at the top part of a pullup with your arms bent and chin over the bar. First, just as before step on an elevated surface so you can get your chin over the bar, but this time when you step off the box try not the start going down but holding yourself in that upper position as long as possible. Then if you feel like losing it start slowly lowering yourself a just like in the previous exercise.
      Do 5 sets of 5 of holding as long as you can then lowering as slowly as you can.

#3 Assisted Pullups
   After you reached a point where you can comfortably hold yourself for around 10-20 seconds you can move on to the next progression exercise which is assisted pullups. The way you gonna perform these is just as before you place a box below the bar but now you're grabbing onto the bar and in a deadhang position you place one of your foot on the box, the other leg is still hanging. Then you're going to pull yourself up while you are helping yourself up with your foot on the box. The goal here is to help as little with your leg as possible but still being able to get your chin over the bar. After you pulled yourself up you get your foot off the box and slowly lower yourself again just like in the first exercise. Then place one of your foot back onto the box and repeat.
Try to rely on your leg less and less.
   Do 5 sets of 5 assisted pullups with slow lowering.

#4 Partial Pullups
      Now it's time to try performing a pullup. Probably you won't be able to pull yourself all the way up but let's say you can do 1/3 of a pullup. It's all good. Your next progression exercise gonna be the partial pullups where you are trying to increase the range of motion in which you are already capable of doing pullups.
Your job is to try to go higher and closer to get your chin over the bar every time and eventually you gonna be there.
      Do 5 sets of 5 max effort partial pullup.


Thats it folks I hope that helped to get your very first strict pullup. Please Share and if you have any questions feel free to comment.
Thanks for reading! Peace Out
Rob Kiss
follow me on Twitter @theRobKiss


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Overtraining In A Pool

Hi Folks
Nowadays everyone in the fitness community talks about overtraining and how just a couple more sets added to you workout are going to ruin your life.

While two bodybuilders are slippin on their purple glowing mass-gainer and arguing about a the effects of a couple more added sets of calf raises and how it's going to make them smaller and how the whole workout loses it's point if you are above an imaginary golden line of x amount of sets in one workout, there's a crossfitter doing his Chipper, sweating, using momentum as much as he can not worrying about what part of his biceps and lats is he targeting with the 100 kipping pullups. Despite all the stupid and ridiculous handstands and the pointless MetCons, our crossfitter guy still has muscle on his frame and able to Clean n Jerk 225. How is it possible?
Let me tell you how overtraining works:

First of all there's no magic formula to define a general truth for overtraining that suits for every human on earth. It's different for everyone and it changes with your age, fitness, mental, emotional and spiritual state.
  When you are "overtrained" what it really is, is just another term for being "overstressed". Now, stress can come from many different ways and forms.
The most common forms of stress that you might be experiencing are:
Neurological, Psychological, Physiological... easier they're factors like Bad nutrition, Not getting enough sleep, Drinking alcohol, Not getting along with people (bitchy gf, stupid boss...),  Having financial problems... the list goes on and on... what you have to realize is that working out is just one of them. You can not look at training as the only factor of overstressing yourself. In fact in most of our lives it plays a much smaller role than all the other causes of stress.
  You can imagine overtraining as a pool what's being filled with all kind of water such as: one bucket is bitchy gf, the second is bad eating habits another bucket pouring into the pool is not getting enough sleep... training too much is just a couple drops of rain. As everyone has different sizes of pools we can bear different amount of stresses in our lives, but once the pool is filled with water it starts to spill out in the forms of Sickness, Weakness, Cancer, Depression, Low libido...
  You can also make little holes, taps into your pool by just letting go from time to time in the form of Meditation, Relaxing, Active recovery (light jogging, play sports with friends) that doesn't require effort.
--> After all probably the two most important and most effective forms of stress relieve are Sex and Sleeping.

  So keep in mind if you wanna change your body or you wanna improve your performance you've got to make adjustments in your whole life approach...

I highly recommend you to all check out this video about Coping With Stress

Please Share and if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comment section!
Thanks for reading! Peace Out
      Rob Kiss

Who Am I

  Hi Folks my name is Rob Kiss I was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1994.
My main reason for staring this blog is that I want to track my development as a CrossFit athlete: measure my progress and interact with like-minded people from all over the world and bounce ideas off each other. 
  About me: Sports have always been a great part of my life even from the very beginning. I started swimming at the age of 4 and I was a competitive swimmer for around 8 years when I decided to move towards waterpolo as I always wanted to do a team sport since my father was one of the best basketball players in the history of Hungary. After my 4th year of playing in one of the best waterpolo teams of Hungary but never playing a major role I decided to switch to basketball.
It was a hard for me "getting out of the pool" and also after around 12 years of 10 hours of training a week having like 3 weekly workouts didn't satisfy my hunger of working out. That time I started to develop serious knee problems because of the sudden stress on my knees due to basketball. That was the time when I first started to go the gym to do physiotherapy and rehab my knee.
  In 2011 I got the book "Convict Conditioning" from my grandfather. It's a book about bodyweight training and it helped me a lot figuring out how to deal with my excessive energies. After my
physiotherapy sessions I started to incorporate Calisthenics in my daily routine and I improved fast because I've already had a good enough athletic background. I started to gain interest in Strength and Conditioning, Healthy Lifestyle, Nutrition and different training methods. I read books started to read blogs and watch youtube videos on the topic. 
 In the Summer of 2012 I've been introduced to CrossFit, a whole new interpretation of the whole Fitness world. I've been always a fan of functional and performance based workouts against the shopwindow dummy bodybuilders who can barely lift their hands above their head without the need of surgery. 
So in the Septermber of 2012 I joined a CrossFit gym here in Budapest. My goal is to perform and compete at my highest level possible and besides that work in the crossfit, fitness, health field after finishing school and help children, adults, elders, pro athletes, recreational athletes with their own personal goals and overall lifestyles.