Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hi and welcome back to Get-Fit Guy, Kevin Don here and this week, I am going to respond to a few more listener questions. The first one is from a friend of mine, who also turns out to be a listener.
Rachel writes:
“Hi Kevin,
I have a question for your Get Fit Guy podcast (I'm a keen listener btw!)
I do my workouts at 6am and have been considering getting an ice bath for the garden. I've heard lots of good things about how helpful it can be with recovery and reducing inflammation etc.
I was planning to use it straight after I get home from a workout but have just seen advice that some acute inflammation is good after a workout as it helps the muscles to grow and adapt so it's best to use it away from the time you would workout. So a morning exerciser would use it in the evening, if at all.
What are your thoughts?”
Hi Rachel,
Great to hear from you. I remember when we met, at a little gym in the West End of Glasgow called ‘ClanFit’ back in 2015. I’m always amazed that no replacement functional fitness opened in the West End. With the University and the overall high value demographic, it’s the perfect spot.
So…inflammation is actually one of those fitness trend buzzwords that trigger me. All these people jumping on the holistic bandwagon have an obsession with inflammation. Seems to me that a significant number of coaches in the health and wellness industry are hypochondriacs. There are foods that you must avoid due to inflammation, environmental factors that you must avoid due to inflammation, times of day you need to do things to avoid inflammation. The bit that really cracks me up is that on one hand, these people are citing studies and taking things to the nth degree when it comes to backing up their claims, but are also happy to shun studies and science when they don’t confirm their narrative.
So, for the benefit of all listeners, let’s define post exertional inflammation. The first thing to recognise is that inflammation is natural. It’s how the body heals itself. I first came across this idea when I had knee surgery and the surgeon prescribed certain classifications of analgesics, while making it clear to avoid NSAID’s, which are non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs include ibuprofen, American listeners may be more familiar with it being called Advil. This class of drugs purposefully decreases inflammation. The problem is that inflammation here is both healing and protective. Healing because white blood cells and other fluids rush to the area to repair and heal things and also swelling restricts movement, which protects you from further injury.
In a little anecdote for you, in 2011, I had left knee pain and I went to see a doctor. He did an MRI and said I had a tear in my patellar tendon a couple a mm in length. He gave me a cortisone shot in the tendon to purposefully reduce inflammation. A couple of days later, I was pain free and had full range of motion back. So I went to town on training and 2 months later, I was in pain again. I went for another MRI and now the tear in my tendon was a couple of cm in length and I needed surgery. The reduced inflammation had allowed me to move into non healing ranges and cause bigger damage.
Similar things happen physiologically after training as after injury, but on a smaller scale. As we had chatted about many times, training is a process of accumulating stressful experiences, to which you adapt. This stress is typically muscular damage. This is then repaired and the result is a stronger muscle. In fact, after training, when athletes have their bloods done, they have hallmarks of inflammation that we would expect to see in a sick or wounded individual. These biomarkers as we call them include things like hsCRP (high sensitive C reactive protein), CK (Creatin kinase) and WBC (white blood cells). These are part of an immune system response. This constant on and off of the immune system is one reason why active individuals have healthier immune responses: their immune systems are efficient because they are being trained several times a week!
So, when it comes to protocols like ice baths, tart cherry juice and other anti inflammatory interventions, we find ourselves stuck in the same conundrum I have covered many times. The one of individualisation being the only way forward. But this has its own problems. Recently I watched a documentary about a multimillionaire called Brian Johnson, not the ACDC lead singer, but an American businessman who spends 2 million dollars a year on having his own in-home medical centre and laboratory, where his bloods are measured each day to help him decide if the will train, how long to train, how long to recover, what supplements to take. Now, this sounds ridiculous and it is. But it’s also correct. If you have undertrained then you don’t need to be plunging into ice baths for training recovery. Likewise, if you are in the sweet spot of training, the goldilocks zone of your immune response matching your training damage, then you don’t need that either. You probably only need a acute intervention if biomarkers are on the high end. And if you aren’t checking the levels in your blood, then how would you know?
So no one gets their panties in a bunch, inflammation is a broad topic, many people could be chronically inflamed and suffering immune system compromise due to always being in a sympathetic state in the nervous system (fight, flight, freeze) and absolutely if you have a very high stress job, struggle to sleep, have perhaps less than optimal micro nutrients in your diet and have a lot of anxiety on top of hitting it hard in the gym, this would be detrimental levels of inflammation. However, at this point, an ice bath is not going to solve your problems either, you need lifestyle change.
So, do I think you should get an ice bath for the garden? If you enjoy them, then why not. Will it impede recovery in the period of acute post exertion inflammation? Yes. Do MOST people need to worry about this? No. Prioritise stress reduction, sleep better, eat best, get sunlight in your eyes and on your skin. This will do a lot more for any chronic inflammatory conditions. There are benefits to your meal health and cardiovascular health of both hypo and hyper thermic, so ice baths or cryotherapy or hot saunas or hot tubs.
Hope that helps!
On to a listener email now!
“Hi Kevin,
I have been enjoying your pod and recommending it to friends and colleagues. I love the practical, smart fitness advice and also your use of blasting dumb ideas with classic philosophical thinking.
I'd love to know more about your process for training. I would like to build some good knowledge and practice up. I am a mom and work full time so I also don't want the mistakes of wasting training time with ineffective techniques or starting overly ambitious training and burn out or fail to meet goals. I want to build sustainable change. I have some free weights at home and access to a gym. I also do karate once a week but the school I have access to is not oriented towards serious martial arts.
I'd love to talk further about your process and fee structure.
Thanks,
Sarah”
Hi Sarah,
I decided to reply to your email here because I had several emails this past week asking me how training works. I also note, that in spite of being a regular listener, you breached rule number one of e-mailing me and not saying where you are from, so I’ll create my own narrative. Sarah, an anthropologist from the banks of Lake Erie asked a question about training with me…
So, the process for training with me is pretty simple and should be the process any good coach will follow with you. If you are a coach listening, let me know if you do similar. If not, what do you do differently?
First of all, I have a zoom call with all potential trainees. This allows me to ask questions like: training motivations, training history, injuries or other limitations. Where would you train? How many days a week? What kind of equipment do you have access to? What is the goal? What kind of training do you enjoy? What do you hate?
After this first call, I then send out movement assessments. Here, trainees perform and film themselves doing ‘foundational’ movements, like a plank hold, a hollow hold, some unloaded squats, rear foot elevated Romanian deadlifts and others. This allows me to see any limitations or glaring problems. Then capacity is tested: aerobic capacity, shorter more explosive workout capacity, strength and so on.
Then a follow up zoom to discuss the findings and to run over what I suggest we work on for the first training cycle. Trainees upload videos to an app I use, which also delivers the workouts and each week I give feedback on the videos and trainees give me feedback on how they felt things went and I can adjust the program design to reflect this week on week.
If anyone is interested in coaching, that’s the process. If not, then of course, there are many great coaches out there doing similar and that’s what I would be looking for myself in a coach. Always seek out someone who will honour the individual!
If you have a question or just want to say hi, then email me at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com and you too can be featured on the show. Don’t forget to share the podcast with your friends!
Get-Fit Guy is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to the team at Quick and Dirty Tips Morgan Christianson, Holly Hutchings, Davina Tomlin, Kamryn Lacey, and our new Director of Podcasts, Brennan Goetschius. I’m your host, Kevin Don. If you have a question for me, leave me a voicemail at 510-353-3104 or send me an email at
getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com
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