As you can probably tell, this is going to get a bit gross.
Coach Kevin Don looks into a new “holistic” trend–urine therapy. Plus, a question from a listener about proper form for a bench press.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Welcome back to Get-Fit Guy, I’m Kevin Don. This week I’m going to have a rant about “holistic” fitness. So, I’ve been a coach for a long time now, over two decades, in fact, and in that time, I’ve been able to see many trends come and go. I’ve also been able to see many coaches rotate through the various trends. I guess that’s what brought this to my attention this week. I watched a video on Instagram, which was totally out there, about “urine therapy.” As you can probably tell, this is going to get a bit gross.
In the video, she:
The most alarming thing to me was that the account was being followed and interacted with by no less than 15 coaches I know, some of whom are already making some posts about this “ancestral living” kind of stuff.
So where are these ideas coming from? And in the interest of me being impartial, are there any benefits? Should I swap out my morning lemon water for a glass of the golden stuff? Let's take a look.
Throughout history, humans have been using natural substances for various roles in daily life. One of those happens to be urine. It was used to dye clothes, as a cleaning agent, to whiten teeth, and in fertilizers thanks to its ammonia content. The Romans even planned to tax ammonia, such were the varied uses and importance in daily Roman culture.
However, the health claims I have found by modern day holistic health practitioners are based on the argument that urine must be good for you because it’s the first thing you drink in the womb. According to one account, “urine is a magic potion that has been given to you from the beginning. It is a life sustaining fluid that helped you develop in the womb. You can thrive on urine, it will cleanse, nourish, replenish, strengthen, and immortalize.”
So, first things first: do we REALLY drink urine in the womb? Well, the answer is YES, we do. A fetus will start to urinate in the amniotic sac from 8 weeks old, and about two weeks later, a layer of cells that blocks their mouth ruptures, allowing it to swallow. By 20 weeks, almost all of the amniotic fluid is urine. But arguing that one thing equals another is a logical fallacy: false equivalency. Saying we should drink urine because babies do is essentially the same as saying we shouldn’t drink dairy because no other adult mammals do. I think we call this bias and selective thinking.
So, what about the other claims that urine can treat acne, cancer, treat infertility and regenerate organs? Well, these are the exact same claims I have read for a whole host of other holistic practices, such as kambo, where you burn yourself and smear the wound with the poisonous secretions of the Kambo Frog.
Reading through multiple “about me” pages on urine therapy practitioners' websites, remarkably, they all have something in common: they all had a health problem that they refused to take medical advice for, and instead used urine therapy, hallucinogenics, or other unproven interventions. They then used this N=1 sample size—which of course, is statistically irrelevant—to say, well I had a problem and I fixed it, so now I am qualified to fix everyone else.
Unfortunately, since we don’t have any evidence that the pseudoscientific intervention actually cured the problem and not that it maybe went away by another mechanism, it's highly irresponsible to say that cancer patients don't need to have chemotherapy because peeing on your cornflakes will be even better in terms of outcome. Experience is not a qualification. Going to the dentist every year doesn't make me any more able to look at and diagnose oral conditions than it does anything else I’m not qualified to talk about.
What REALLY gets my gander up about these holistic practitioners, however, is that they preface long posts about medical conditions and where they are trying to sell you their “detox” or “reset” plans to help your medical conditions but saying “this isn’t medical advice.” I’m sorry… what?! Much like urine, that just doesn’t pass the sniff test.
So, since what is said without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, I would urge anyone considering drinking their own pee to reset their organs or give you immortal life to have a rethink about fact vs fiction.
Drinking urine undermines your body's own filtration systems. Urine does indeed contain waste products and if you continually reingest these, your kidneys will have to work incredibly hard to keep balance. You can damage your kidneys and disturb your electrolyte balance. Whilst its generally considered “sterile,” urine can introduce unwanted pathogens and bacteria to your gut. In an absolute emergency, it may indeed be your safest source of water, but if you haven’t been dropped off in the middle of the Kalahari, I’d wager that you have better hydration choices at home. There are no benefits at all to this practice.
And before I go, I thought I would share an email I received a couple of weeks back, which I have already replied to via email, but I think everyone could benefit from the answer!
“Hi coach,
I have a question about the proper form for a pushup or bench press; specifically the range of motion. I'm 6'4" and have long arms. Should my bench press lower the bar all the way to my chest, or only to where my upper arms are parallel to my body? My concern is that lowering the bar to my chest, or my chest to the ground in a pushup, extends my elbows well behind my back and rotates my shoulders quite forward. I'm also 60, and have had rotator cuff surgery in the past. Please specify if your answer applies to every tall person or just to a situation similar to mine.
Thank you.
James”
Hi James, thanks for writing in.
I can empathize with the rotator cuff—I tore mine real bad at judo and I have to tell you that because of the internal rotation at the shoulder, I do not train the barbell bench press anymore. To encourage the correct setting of the scapulae and to focus on keeping my shoulder where I want, I only single-arm bench with either dumbbells, kettlebells, or the cable machine. I also perform these with a slow tempo to make sure I am in control of my position and have the time under tension to develop a great motor pattern.
So I would say that’s something to reflect on: do you need to bench with a barbell? Anything we are doing which causes discomfort, pain, or pulls us out of shape might be better avoided, unless being in that position is absolutely critical to a specified outcome. If you have bad shoulders and are a gymnast, where shoulder loading is critical to the outcome of the sport, then we can’t really say to avoid it. But if the goal is longevity, we can look into preserving the range of motion and pattern with a different stimulus or implement. I do think that a horizontal push is important, but I don’t believe that needs to be a bench press with a barbell.
In terms of position, where we want to develop strength is the largest range of motion around the point of rotation, so that would typically be with deep elbows, but you may be able to keep a more favorable position (vertical forearms) with a dumbbell or kettlebell.
My answer here wouldn't apply to every taller person, but certainly every person with rotator cuff issues.
I'd say a larger range of motion with a lighter load will be more favorable for health and longevity outcomes than a reduced ROM with a larger barbell load.
If you have any questions about better ways to hydrate than drinking your pee, have a training question, are looking for individual training program design, or just want to say hi, head over to the Get-Fit Guy Facebook page or send me an email at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com.