Coach Brandon Henderson, PhD

So the first half marathon of the season is under my belt and its time to evaluate how well my training is progressing. First of all, the race:

The Hollywood Half Marathon was an inaugural race. For a First race I think it was organized well; but I hear that there were a lot of problems for the main wave (I was in the top 150 of ~6000). From what I heard, the main wave ran out of water, so luckily I didn’t have that problem. The only issue I had was with the fact that the only mile marker came at mile 12. With that being said, I think the organizers did quite a good job, especially for a first time race in the middle of Hollywood and Universal Studios.

The race itself was a bear. The start was a 500 foot decline with an average grade of -5. So everyone was blasting it at the start (This of course was not the hard part). The course was definitely not flat; but the real bear was the last mile. The end was a ~550 foot climb with average grade 5. Coming at the end of the race, this stopped a few racers in their tracks. On my way up, I passed numerous racers who were ahead of me; but just couldn’t keep running up the hill and either stopped or started walking up.

Start of the 'climb' to the finish

As for my progress, I posted a 1:37:40. I had a 7:07 min/mile pace up to the climb in the last mile and overall I ended up having a 7:24 min/mile pace. In prepping for this race I mostly followed my P90X2/running hybrid that I have posted not too long ago. This worked out well; but I missed the intensity that I had with my Asylum/P90X/running hybrid.

In saying that, I don’t mean that P90X2 is not intense; but the speed work and volume of ‘Asylum’ is definitely heavy. For the two weeks before the half marathon I made sure to do Asylum’s ‘Speed and Agility’ and ‘Vertical Plyo’ workouts and I also did a 8+ mile run that had at least a 500 foot climb with +6 grade. Altogether, these three things definitely prepared me for the last mile of the Hollywood Half Marathon’s course. A huge testament to the training schedule is the fact that my previous best half marathon time was a 1:40:11 and this was on a completely flat course. Add in the fact that there were numerous hills and a huge climb at the end of this race and the bottom line is that a time of 1:37:40 is a huge improvement and definitely came for the training plan.

So now that this race is done, its time to go back to the drawing board and determine if my training plan can be improved. At first glance, I’m thinking of mixing P90X2, Asylum, and running to make a new hybrid and take on my next half marathon. Keep posted and I will soon post a new schedule on the blog.

At the Finish Line!!!!

So I finally completed an Insanity/Half Marathon training schedule. For those of you who have requested it, sorry it took so long. Soon I will take all the hybrids that I have made and I will publish them together on a new page dedicated to hybrid schedules. For those of you who have requested P90X/Half Marathon Hybrids, I will have those done soon. As always, click on the above image to get the higher resolution version that you can save as an image.

Cheers

So far I’ve got a lot of requests for different hybrid schedules. Pretty soon I am just going to make an entire page on this site that is just dedicated to hybrid workouts. Right now I’m training for a few half marathons in Southern California; but my wife got me P90X2 for Christmas. I didn’t want to wait until after the half marathons to start P90X2 so I made a hybrid schedule to try and do both. First I did a week’s worth of workouts for each phase of the P90X2 schedule just to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. Now I’m a few weeks into this new hybrid and its definitely feeling good. Not as hard as my P90X/Insanity/Asylum/Half Marathon hybrid schedule; but it is definitely gonna get the job done.

**Note:

The image above may seem small; but click on it and the file will be enlarged so it is easier to read.

Can eating unhealthy, fattening food be addictive? As a person who struggled with obesity in the past, I can attest that some food (my weakness was Zebra Cakes) has a ‘power’ over us. No matter how much you can try to not eat certain food, it just ends up finding a way onto our plates. Through my years of training as a neuroscientist/neuropharmacologist, I have learned how many things can ‘hardwire’ our brain into forming habitual patterns (as a side-note, If you want to see my scientific qualifications, see the ‘About me’ page). This is well established for addictive drugs (i.e., nicotine, cocaine) and tragic events (post-traumatic stress disorders); but in recent years, neuroscientists have begun to accumulate evidence that high-fat food can cause addictive patterns, similar to drugs like cocaine.

Take a moment to digest that….high-fat food can cause addictive patterns similar to drugs like cocaine. The number one contributor to obsesity, high-fat foods, causes addictive behaviors. This even more concerning given that obesity is the number three killer in America (Following cancer [#1] and tobacco addiction [#2]) (Kenny, 2011). According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), obesity-related health care expenses in the United States between 1998 and 2000 were approximately $213 billion. They are certainly higher today, given the steady rise in obesity rates in America where current estimates suggest >30% of Americans classifying as obese (Flegal et al., 2010). Not to be depressing; but 300,000 deaths in the United States each year can be attributed to overweight- and obesity-related diseases (Allison et al., 1999).

So where is the evidence that high-fat food can cause cocaine-like addictions? Well, here you go:

When presented with a choice, rodents overwhelmingly prefer to consume a saccharin (sugar) solution rather than cocaine (Lenoir et al., 2007). Rodents will also consume high-fat or high-caloric food in patterns that mimic those of cocaine and heroin (Kenny et al., 2011). Additionally, well-fed rats will voluntarily expose themselves to extreme cold (-15^oC), heat pain or footshock to obtain high-fat food items, such as cake, meat pate’ , peanut butter, Coke, candy, chocolate chips, or yogurt drops, even when lower fat, standard chow is freely available (Cabanac and Johnson, 1983; Foo and Mason, 2005; Oswald et al., 2010).

Reprint of a Figure from Kenny et al., 2010, depicting how rodents will easily consume high-fat (palatable) food in a manner similar to cocaine and heroin.

Consumption of high-fat food has also been shown to enhance mood in humans (Dallman et al., 2003; Sclafani et al., 1998). These effects are likely related to the stimulation of brain reward systems by food. In many addictive drugs, it is well known that addictive processes are initiated and/or maintained through elevated levels of dopamine (a very important neurotransmitter) in cognitive, emotional, and habit-enforcing areas of the brain (i.e., prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens). Imaging studies in human brains have shown that food can activate these same brain circuits that are implicated in drug-reward (Bragulat et al., 2010).

So what does this tell us? This makes me think of the family members that I have (that many of us have) who are obese or morbidly obese and need to make a change in lifestyle; but are unable do so because they can’t stop eating junk. It sounds crazy how many Americans have a choice between changing their eating habits and having a long, healthy life or a life of hypertension, heart failure and high blood pressure; but continue to choose the latter option. Now we (I’m speaking for us scientists and health professionals) may need to look at these cases in a different light. Maybe we should consider these people in need of a lifestyle change as we do recovering alcoholics oar recovering drug addicts?

I just want to clarify that I in no way think that we should ban high-fat or high-caloric food. I’m not one of those people who thinks that McDonalds should be shut down. I just believe that we just need to exercise control over what we eat, just how we already control what we say and do. But next time you think “Man I NEED some cheesecake”, just think about if it really is a good decision.

References:

Allison, D.B., Fontaine, K.R., Manson, J.E., Stevens, J., and Vanltallie, T.B. (1999). Annual deaths attributable to obesity in the United States. JAMA 282, 1530-1538.

Bragulat, V., Dzemidzic, M., Bruno, C., Cox, C.A., Talavage, T., Considine, R.V., and Kareken, D.A. (2010). Food-Related Odor Probes of Brain Reward Circuits during Hunger: A Pilot fMRI Study (Silver Spring, MD: Obesity).

Cabanac, M., and Johnson, K.G. (1983). Analysis of a conflict between palatability and cold exposure in rats. Physiol. Behav. 31, 249-253.

Dallman, M.F., Pecoraro, N.C., La Fleur, S.E., Warne, J.P., Ginsberg, A.B., Akana, S.F., Laugero, K.C., Houshyar, H., Strack, A.M., Bhatnagar, S., and Bell, M.E. (2006). Glucocorticoids, chronic stress, and obesity. Prog. Brain Res. 153, 75–105.

Flegal, K.M., Carroll, M.D., Ogden, C.L., and Curtin, L.R. (2010). Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2008. JAMA 303, 235-241.

Foo, H., and Mason, P. (2005). Sensory suppression during feeding. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102, 16865-16869.

Kenny, P.J. (2011) Reward mechanisms in obesity: new insights and future directions. Neuron. DOI: DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.02.016.

Lenoir, M., Serre, F., Cantin, L., and Ahmed, S.H. (2007). Intense sweetness surpasses cocaine reward. PloS ONE 2, e698. 10.1371/journal.pone.0000698.

Oswald, K.D., Murdaugh, D.L., King, V.L., and Boggiano, M.M. (2010). Motivation for palatable food despite consequences in an animal model of binge eating. Int. J. Eat. Disord., DOI: 10.1002/eat.20808.

Sclafani, A., Bodnar, R.J., and Delamater, A.R. (1998). Pharmacology of food conditioned preferences. Appetite 31, 406.

Whey protein is a mixture of globular proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. Some preclinical studies in rodents have suggested that whey protein may possess anti-inflammatory or anti-cancer properties; however, human data is lacking (Sadly, this is very common in science). The effects of whey protein on human health are of great interest and are currently being investigated as a way of reducing disease risk, as well as a possible supplementary treatment for several diseases. Commonly, whey protein is marketed and ingested as a dietary supplement, and various health claims have been attributed to it in the alternative medicine community. Although whey proteins are responsible for some milk allergies, the major allergens in milk are the caseins.

For those of you who are experienced in supplement options, you probably already have your favorite types of whey protein picked out. But many people look at the many types of brands and types of protein supplements and are completely overwhelmed. This post is here to help digest the different types and analyze the pros and cons of each type. Here I list different types of whey protein and also alternates such as soy, egg, and casein supplements. This list is not exhaustive and like all good things is an iterative process as new products come on the market. So if you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

First of all, lets digest all the different types of whey protein:

Hydrolyzed Whey Protein: "Hydrolyzed" basically means the protein has been 'broken down' partially into peptides of different lengths. Because the protein is already partially 'broken down' it is absorbed faster, which may have positive effects under certain circumstances given certain metabolic conditions (i.e., burn victims, people with certain digestive disorders, and pre-term infants). Whether or not hydrolyzed proteins are truly an advantage to athletes has yet to be proven. The hype over hydrolyzed proteins was based pretty much on one rat study that found fasted rats given Hydrolyzed protein had higher nitrogen retention then rats fed whole protein. Sadly, this was never followed up with a human study in athletes. Regardless, hydrolyzed protein supplements never became more popular due to the fact that they tasted awful (I can definitely attest to this), were expensive, and lacked enough data to really support their use. The way they were produced at the time also denatured the protein heavily. Thus, when a protein is denatured, it is useless. Therefore, there were some hydrolyzed whey products in which as little as 10% of the protein could actually be useful since the remainder was already denatured. This doesn't mean that there are no good hydrolyzed whey products available; but I suggest other types as better alternatives.

Whey Protein Concentrates (WPCs): First generation whey protein powders contained as low as 30-40% protein and contained high amounts of lactose, fat, and undenatured proteins. They were considered a "concentrate" and were used mostly by the food industry for baking and other uses. Modern concentrates now contain as high as 70-80% plus protein with reduced amounts of lactose and fat. Many are under the illusion that a WPC is inherently inferior to an isolate. This is false. Though WPCs will contain less protein on a gram for gram basis than an isolate, a high quality WPC contains all sorts of interesting compounds not found in the isolates. Good concentrates contain far higher levels of growth factors, such as IGF-1, TGF-1, and TGF-2. They contain much higher levels of various phospholipids, and various bioactive lipids, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and they often contain higher levels of immunoglobulins and lactoferrin. To some, the growth factors are not desireable,and therefore favor isolates. The additional lipids like CLA are a good bonus as they help increase LDL (bad cholesterol) metabolism and help stimulate burning of body fat. Although data is lacking as to whether or not these compounds found in a good WPC will effect an athlete's muscle mass or performance, studies do suggest these compounds can improve immunity, intestinal health, and have many other effects that both athletes and "normal" people alike may find beneficial. The drawbacks of WPCs are they have slightly less protein gram for gram than an isolate, and contain higher levels of fat (though these fats may in fact have beneficial effects), calories, and higher levels of lactose. People should not be under the impression that a well made WPC is inherently inferior to a whey protein isolate (WPI) and may in fact be a superior choice, depending on the goals of the person. For example, some people don't tolerate lactose well or are trying to watch every gram of fat in their diet while others may want the potentially beneficial effects of the additional compounds found in a high quality concentrate.

Whey Protein Isolates (WPIs):  WPIs generally contain as much as 90-96% protein. Research has found that only whey proteins in their natural undenatured state (i.e. native conformational state) have biological activity. Processing whey protein to remove the lactose, fats, etc. without losing its biological activity takes special care by the manufacturer. Maintaining the natural undenatured state of the protein is essential to its anti-cancer and immune stimulating activity. The protein must be processed under low temperature and/or low acid conditions as not to "denature" the protein and this becomes an even greater concern when making high grade isolates vs. concentrates. WPIs contain >90% protein contents with minimal lactose and virtually no fat. The advantage of a good WPI is that it contains more protein and less fat, lactose, and ash then concentrates on a gram for gram basis. However, it should be clear to the reader by now that whey is far more complicated than simple protein content, and protein content per se is far from the most important factor when deciding which whey to use. For example, ion exchange has the highest protein levels of any isolate. Does that make it the best choice for an isolate? No, but many companies still push it as the holy grail of whey.

Soy Protein: Soy protein has been said to be a 'feminizing' compound. By that many people refer to the fact that soy contains phytoestrogens, which bind estrogen receptors. So why would anybody replace whey protein with this supposedly inferior protein? It is typical in any debate that there are two sides of the argument. The 'feminizing' effects of soy is only one side of the argument and is supported by little data. Studies show that soy can be as effective, if not more so than whey in its ability to promote growth of lean muscle.

The latest studies into soy protein suggest it does not decrease testosterone and raise estrogen, as previously thought. The first of these studies, presented at the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Meeting, May 2004, and sponsored by the US National Dairy Council, found the post-workout consumption of isonitrogenous and isoenergetic soy drink to be statistically significant in hastening mass, fat-bone free mass (FBFM) and increases in strength, when compared to other post-workout formulations (skim milk and maltodextrin beverage), both of which had a similar degree of efficacy. This study demonstrated that intact proteins from both soy and milk protein are effective in supporting muscle hypertrophy, lending a degree of support to soy as a legitimate post-workout nutritional beverage. The following year (2005) an additional study by the Solae company found that: 1) All of the protein sources resulted in the desired affect of increasing lean body mass. In addition, there was no difference between the supplement sources on changes in testosterone levels. and 2)The lean muscle mass gains that were demonstrated in this study are consistent with prior research looking at how soy and whey impact lean muscle mass in conjunction with an exercise regimen.

Like the case for WPIs vs. WPCs, the issues regarding Soy protein need further study; but it should be considered a contender with Whey protein. When it comes to sources of Soy protein, I try to get my intake from either soy milk or soy fluor.

Casein Protein: When you hear people talking about protein supplements they’re usually referring to whey. This is not surprising, as many consider whey protein to be the best protein source. Mostly, this is due to Whey protein having the highest bioavalibilityV  others, digests fast, and has additional lipids and amino acids. But what about casein protein? I see casein protein playing a major role in building muscle. Whey protein is quick digesting, but that can also be its downfall for those who are looking for a slower, more prolonged release of protein. There are 2 times of the day where I would definitely choose casein over whey. They are: 1)Before bed and 2) During the day (not after a workout). These 2 times when casein rules. Why? Because of casein’s slower release into the body. Casein takes up to 7 hours to be fully absorbed by the body, that’s 7 hours of vital protein being delivered to muscles that are repairing after intense training sessions. Casein is often referred to as night time protein, and it is. I have personally experienced more muscle and weight gains just by switching to casein at night times. Now, I would never take whey before bed. The other time of the day I like to take casein is about 2 hours before my workout. For exactly the same reasons, I want that protein to be made available to my muscles during my workout. If I wanted to do this with whey, I’d have to take it right before I trained which would leave me feeling bloated. So don’t write casein off, it has its place, and you can build more muscle taking it!

Initially, I used casein to bulk up as I have mentioned above. Currently I'm at a point where I am happy with my 'bulk' and have no desire to gain additional muscle. I've dropped the casein from my diet and have stuck with just whey after workouts only and have had great results maintaining my weight.

Egg Protein: Egg protein is absorbed by the body at a rate in between the fast absorbing whey protein, and the slow absorbing casein protein.  Its a protein that can be consumed at pretty much any meal. Since eggs are one of the best muscle building foods mother nature has to offer, you would expect to hear rave reviews.  This isn’t the case however.  Egg protein is great, don't get me wrong.  You just may be better off cooking hardboiled eggs and consuming them instead of spending money on egg protein.  The biological value of whole eggs is is actually higher than egg protein (100 vs. 88) assuming that you consume the yolk. Here are the main advantages of egg protein: 1)Excellent alternative for those with allergies - If you are allergic to Casein, Whey or Soy, then egg white protein could be your best bet; 2) High biological value - Casein protein powder has a high biological value meaning that a substantial number of it's amino acids can be utilized by the body for tissue growth; 3) Low in calories – Egg protein is very low in calories as it is virtually free of carbohydrates and fat; 4) Excellent amino acid profile - Just like eggs, egg protein shares an outstanding amino acid profile, meaning that the body can easily convert the protein to muscle tissue.

As I mentioned before, this post is a work in progress. So stay tuned for updates.

Sources:

www.bodybuilding.com

www.wikipedia.org

Various articles found on Pubmed (will list these and add links to the content soon hopefully)

www.mytopform.com

www.teambeachbody.com

I thought I would post an update on my progress; but instead I decided to post my entire progress history since I started doing Beachbody workouts. Once again, I think this is a testament to the combination of their great workouts, diet plans, and support system. If it weren’t for the support system I probably would have never made it here. The two plots you see in this post are my body weight history (left panel) and my body fat % (right panel). As you can see in my first 60 days I completed Insanity and had a drastic drop in both my weight and my body fat. Over the next 90 days, I did a hybrid program with P90X and Insanity and during this time I started using Shakeology. Through this time, I only lost a few pounds in weight; but my body fat continued to decrease. The same thing happened in the next 30 day series where I completed Asylum, didn’t lose much weight; but my body fat kept decreasing. Following this, I have been mixing P90X, Insanity, Asylum and running (training for half marathons). It is interesting because I started gaining a bit of weight; but my body fat continued to decrease. Which is good because this means that all the weight I gained was muscle mass and not fat.

It is clear that America’s obesity rate is on the rise. The above figure shows the obesity rates listed for each state in 1990, 1999, and 2009. In 1990 The worst was only 10-14% for the rates of obesity; but in 2009 more than half of the United Sates is above 25%. Results like these make me afraid to look at the results for 2009. For a more detailed report, check the CDC’s website on obesity. Many people blame fast food chains, too much time watching TV, and too little time exercising.

But when it comes down to it its all about the choices we make. I understand both sides of the equation because I was obese for most of my life. I am blessed that I had a change of heart my senior year of high school and gained a true desire to live a healthy lifestyle. From then on I have sought ways to improve my own health, fitness, and lifestyle. To me that included changing what I eat, how much I sleep, how much I exercise, and how I treat my body. For years I have focused this inward on myself; but I realized that if I am really passionate about this, I need to turn this outward. Anyone who has a relationship with Jesus knows that his greatest commandment is to love others. So I have decided to try to help others end the trend of obesity. To do that I have signed up to be a coach for an awesome company called Beachbody. Beachbody is committed to ending the trend of obesity in America by promoting better nutrition and adapting to an active lifestyle.

To anyone out there, who is reading this and struggles with obesity: First of all, I know how you feel. I’ve been there and I along with my team want to help you. First of all, if you are trying to change your lifestyle for the better, DON’T GIVE UP! Keep moving forward. If you need help, please contact me, its one of the reasons I’ve set up this blog.

For those of you who have or are in the process of conquering your struggle with obesity, now its time to help others. If this is what you want to do, then join my team by clicking the link below. Or feel free to contact me.

Join Team Beachbody

Brandon Henderson, PhD
Division of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University
440 Riffe Building, 496 W 12th ave, Columbus, OH 43210

Hi friends, I started a New Challenge on Fatsecret! This challenge is called “The Beachbody Challenge”. Its all about making small changes that will benefit our future for the long term. For any of you that know me, I’m not about ‘diets’. To me, diets are things that most people go on to lose weight; but as soon as they lose the weight they go off the diet. When they go off the diet, they go back to bad habits and gain the weight again. Next thing you know, there back on a diet again. Thus begins a never ending cycle. I know this from experience as a young teen when I would constantly battle my weight. Now as an adult, I know that if I want to be healthy, I need to be consistent in my health, nutrition, and exercise. This is what this challenge is about, helping people get consistent.

For those of you who have never heard of fatsecret, here is a short blurb about what the website is about:

“FatSecret is a new online diet, nutrition and weight loss community that harnesses the collective contributions of our members to generate practical and motivating information so that you can make better decisions to achieve your goals.”

When I was a varsity rower in college, I started to have a lot of issues with joint pain my senior year. Most of the pain I felt, happened to occur in my right shoulder. I never knew why because I thought I had always been careful in the way I trained. It only dawned on me why this was happening when I ended up needed physical therapy for ‘over-use’ injuries to my shoulder. As a rower, especially in my senior year, I only concentrated on developing the muscles I needed.

Therefore, I lifted to strengthen my legs, back and arms. I never did any chest workouts. In doing so, I ruined the symmetry of my body and my body started to tried to overcompensate. Thus, my shoulder got out of alignment and then the pain started. If only I knew how important it was to keep my training ‘symmetrical’ I would have never had this problem.

So moral of the story: Balance your workouts. Don’t just focus on one body part in all of your training; because eventually you’ll be asking for trouble. You want big biceps? Then work your triceps. Need quad strength for jumping? Work your hamstrings as well. Need chest strength to push hard (I’m talking to you, linebackers)? Then work your back.