Been too long, Resolution time

It has been to long since I last posted anything here. Life has a strange way of getting in the way. Since my last post I finished my Animated Xmas display (view blog here). The holidays have come and gone and I was blessed to have my kids for a much needed visit.

As the new year has begun I find myself, much like thousands of people around us all, make resolutions for reason or another. My resolutions for 2010 have to do with promoting myself better. I have been coaching and education endurance athletes for quite a while now, however, I have never been very good at promoting myself. This year I mean to change all that.

While I have not yet decided on a final plan I am pleased to say that I will start with posting here at least once per week. I have found that when I spend the time writing I'm more in tune with my clients, readers and friends. So, stay with me into the new year as we both grow together. Articles to come include: true BMR plus exercise calorie calculations, proper percentage of dietary fat for endurance athletes, use of Computrainer ERG+ files in training and more.

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Heading back into the shop

Hello all,

It's been a long time. How have you been? Good I hope. Well, I'm back, in a matter of speaking. I have taken back control of my destiny and have made my way back into the cycling world full time.

Starting Monday, September 28, 2009 I will heading back in the bike business. On this day, I will the newest member of the fine team at Sage Cycles in Helotes, Texas (San Antonio).

This is going to be a great opportunity to reignite my writing and review blog posts. It will allow me to work closer with my athletes and meet new friends along the way.

If your in the area, stop on by and say hello. They are located at: 12340 Bandera Road #106
Helotes, Tx 78023.

I'll be back soon, I promise.
Bobby

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Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus

Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus
by: Keith Devlin of NPR

Americans keep putting on the pounds — at least according to a report released this week from the Trust for America's Health. The study found that nearly two-thirds of states now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent.

But you may want to take those findings — and your next meal — with a grain of salt, because they're based on a calculation called the body mass index, or BMI.

As the Weekend Edition math guy, I spoke to Scott Simon and told him the body mass index fails on 10 grounds:

1. The person who dreamed up the BMI said explicitly that it could not and should not be used to indicate the level of fatness in an individual.

The BMI was introduced in the early 19th century by a Belgian named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. He was a mathematician, not a physician. He produced the formula to give a quick and easy way to measure the degree of obesity of the general population to assist the government in allocating resources. In other words, it is a 200-year-old hack.

2. It is scientifically nonsensical.

There is no physiological reason to square a person's height (Quetelet had to square the height to get a formula that matched the overall data. If you can't fix the data, rig the formula!). Moreover, it ignores waist size, which is a clear indicator of obesity level.

3. It is physiologically wrong.

It makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body. But bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, so a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat will have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious movie stars who work out a lot tend to find themselves classified as overweight or even obese.

4. It gets the logic wrong.

The CDC says on its Web site that "the BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for people." This is a fundamental error of logic. For example, if I tell you my birthday present is a bicycle, you can conclude that my present has wheels. That's correct logic. But it does not work the other way round. If I tell you my birthday present has wheels, you cannot conclude I got a bicycle. I could have received a car. Because of how Quetelet came up with it, if a person is fat or obese, he or she will have a high BMI. But as with my birthday present, it doesn't work the other way round. A high BMI does not mean an individual is even overweight, let alone obese. It could mean the person is fit and healthy, with very little fat.

5. It's bad statistics.

Because the majority of people today (and in Quetelet's time) lead fairly sedentary lives and are not particularly active, the formula tacitly assumes low muscle mass and high relative fat content. It applies moderately well when applied to such people because it was formulated by focusing on them. But it gives exactly the wrong answer for a large and significant section of the population, namely the lean, fit and healthy. Quetelet is also the person who came up with the idea of "the average man." That's a useful concept, but if you try to apply it to any one person, you come up with the absurdity of a person with 2.4 children. Averages measure entire populations and often don't apply to individuals.

6. It is lying by scientific authority.

Because the BMI is a single number between 1 and 100 (like a percentage) that comes from a mathematical formula, it carries an air of scientific authority. But it is mathematical snake oil.

7. It suggests there are distinct categories of underweight, ideal, overweight and obese, with sharp boundaries that hinge on a decimal place.

That's total nonsense.

8. It makes the more cynical members of society suspect that the medical insurance industry lobbies for the continued use of the BMI to keep their profits high.

Insurance companies sometimes charge higher premiums for people with a high BMI. Among such people are all those fit individuals with good bone and muscle and little fat, who will live long, healthy lives during which they will have to pay those greater premiums.

9. Continued reliance on the BMI means doctors don't feel the need to use one of the more scientifically sound methods that are available to measure obesity levels.

Those alternatives cost a little bit more, but they give far more reliable results.

10. It embarrasses the U.S.

It is embarrassing for one of the most scientifically, technologically and medicinally advanced nations in the world to base advice on how to prevent one of the leading causes of poor health and premature death (obesity) on a 200-year-old numerical hack developed by a mathematician who was not even an expert in what little was known about the human body back then.

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Brilliant View into our World

I'm not one who normally posts videos or other viral internet noise but this morning I happened across this video which I thought I should share. It is a powerful visual reminder that there is truly very little difference between us all. Back in the 90's a bunch of super star singers and song writers sang a little song called We Are the World.

I never really got into that song mostly due to its professional nature. Great, you all can stand in a room with millions of dollars of equipment and create a song that stirs emotions but what we have here is as far from that as we can get. We have everyday people singing with all they have, sharing there love of music with us.

The artist behind this video have assembled a collection of clips taken from all over the world and turned them into something special. Take 5 minutes and watch how truly close we all are!

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

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Connecting with VeloTutor

Hello everyone,

In an effort to make myself more available to your questions and comments, I have been lucky enough to get into the beta of the new Google Voice service. With this service you have the ability to call me from anywhere in the continental U.S. free of charge.

How does it work:
On the right side of the page you will see a Google Call Me link. Simply click the link, enter in your name and phone number and Google will connect you with me. How easy is that. During the connection process Google will call your phone - which you have entered - while at the same time calling me and just like that we're connected together.

If you would like to call me directly from your phone, my Google phone number is: 210.764.3747

I look forward to speaking with you soon,
Bobby

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Pilates and Cycling

I have been a huge fan of adding core conditioning into ones cycling program for a long time. I often recommend my clients to take either a Pilate's or Yoga style class to build both flexibility and strength, since the ability to hold ones pelvis in proper alignment is critical to the pedal stroke. I have found significant increases in pedal efficiency, aerobic output and tolerance to high workloads from those clients that make Pilate's or Yoga a regular part of the fitness regimen.

The other day I was explaining this very principle to one of my clients when they asked it I had an reference material I could share with them. Here is one particular article that I found very while thought out and explained.

by Marci Clark
Date Released : 30 Dec 2004

QUESTION:

What application does Pilates have for cycling and spinning work?

ANSWER:

If you are an advocate of Pilates exercise, you may already know how beneficial Pilates can be as a cross-training tool. The exercises increase core strength and stability and provides overall flexibility. As a cyclist, having better core strength and stability can lead to improved performance on the bike. If your core is stable, your body can devote most of its energy and power into your legs. Additionally, if your flexibility improves, your risk of injury is lower, and your body can recruit the proper muscle groups more efficiently.

This being said, as a cyclist and Spin instructor, the biggest change for me was how I approached my posture on the bike. When I first started serious training in cycling, I never thought about how my body was positioned on the bike. I was merely concerned about being able to “power” up hills and “sprint” past my opponents. Even during Spin class, posture and alignment never entered my mind. I simply moved from point A to point B without consciousness. Pilates taught me to align before I moved and to move consciously with new body awareness.

With this new awareness, I began to assess my posture while on the stationary bike in Spin class. Most of us forget about proper posture and alignment during our daily living. We slouch, hunch our shoulders and reach our heads forward while driving our cars. We carry many of these same bad body mechanics over into our workouts. Look around your next Spin class, and you will see these body patterns begin to appear, especially as the participant begins to fatigue. In a Pilates class, alignment is crucial to the proper execution of the exercises. Joseph Pilates believed that “the mind moves the body,” and therefore, all Pilates exercise begins with proper alignment before movement. I realize that in a Spin class, there may be times where you fall out of alignment, but that happens in a Pilates class as well. What is most important is that you give yourself the tools to create that awareness, so even if you fall out of alignment, you will know how to get bring yourself back.

Below is a list of a few Pilates principles that you can carry over into your Spin class. Beginning the alignment from the feet and ending with the head, you should check your alignment often, especially when you are in standing positions or working hard in the seated position.

Make sure to press through the big toe and ball of the foot as you pedal. Keep the knee and second toe aligned.

1. Sit with your sit bones evenly placed on the saddle, and maintain this position while pedaling in a seated position.
2. Draw your ribcage in line with your pelvis and engage your abdominal muscles.
3. In hand positions 1 and 2, make sure to keep your shoulders away from your ears and down your back.
4. Reach long through the crown of your head.

These cues are a first step to incorporating some of the Pilates principles with your Spinning program. The more you learn about Pilates exercise, the more you will see how the exercises can be used to help condition the body for many types of sports and activities.

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Breaking the Post-Lunch Dip

This morning I was asked to do a little research into the phenomenon that seems to effect many more people than I thought did. While I have never, well I can't remember having ever, had this issue I see the affects in my job all the time.

The phenomenon is the Post-Lunch Dip. Often referred to the drop or dipping of ones mental and emotional state post lunch. It effects people of all ages and there does not seem to a single mitigating factor in all cases.

In an article written my the New York Times in 2007, they go through quite a few questions & answers on the topic. Such as,

"Q. Every day after lunch, you find yourself overcome by drowsiness, and you can’t get any work done because you just want to crawl under your desk and go to sleep. Why does this happen?

A. This universal phenomenon, known as the “post-lunch dip,” represents a collision of biology and economics.

It is entirely natural for humans to want to go to sleep about seven hours after they have awakened. But as the internal rhythms of the body call out for rest, the efficiency of the modern workplace demands continued exertion. "

and

"Q. Do all people experience the post-lunch dip?

A. The effect may be natural, but “not everyone experiences it with equal intensity,” said David F. Dinges, a professor and sleep scientist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

A few people say they don’t feel the dip at all, while others — about 15 percent to 20 percent of the population, he estimates — are “closet nappers.” These are the ones who steal into empty rooms or their parked cars, or fall asleep at their desks, because they can’t fight off the urge to close their eyes. ".

Read the whole article.

In addition to the New York Times article I came across a research article publish by Helen M. Lloyd et al. at the Consumer Sciences Department, Institute of Food Research which showed that your lunch time nutrition may also play a role in your post-lunch slump. They found that lunch time meals that were either low in fat and high in carbohydrate or high in fat and low in carbohydrate caused slower response times and low cognitive reasoning skills when compared to a well balanced meal composed of moderate levels of fat and carbohydrate. This particular notion is of great interest due to lower mental cognition could and may play a role in decreased work production.

Read the full abstract.

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