Look Better Naked: Measure What Matters

In 1981 at the tender age of 9 years old I stepped on the scale and competed in my first Judo tournament.  I fought my last match at age 39 in 2012.  As combat sports are contested by weight division, much of my life was spent obsessing about the bathroom scale.  As an adult I competed in the -81kg division (178.2 lbs) and walked around at 185lbs.  That meant I had to cut 6.8lbs for competition.  It wasn’t that much, many of my competitors cut 20lbs to make the division, but it did mean a week of light eating and skipping dinner and breakfast before the weigh-ins.  It also meant that every morning, all year round, first thing after waking I would step on the bathroom scale to make sure I was hovering around 185lbs in order to avoid any major weight cuts.  Obsess much?  This is why one of the first things I did after retiring from competition in 2012 was throw away the bathroom scale.  I haven’t owned one since.  I don’t want to spend any more time obsessing about my body weight.  These days, as a CrossFit competitor, I love that I do not need to cut weight for competition.  No longer do I need to worry about how much I weigh (I walk around just shy of 200lbs).

All this to say, if you dread the scale, I can relate.  I’m not a fan myself.  Which is why it took me over a decade to come around to admitting the value of the InBody scanner.  In fact, when we bought it for the gym, I had no intention of using it for myself.  It was something we did for the benefit of our members.  The only reason I stepped on it was to learn how to use it (and to try not to be a total hypocrite). 

The usefulness of the data it provided surprised meIt surprised me.  Not in that obsessive way but as a way of assessing the efficacy of my current training and nutrition regimen.  I could tweak dietary and training variables and then correlate these to changes in body composition.  While I found my total muscle mass was great, my legs were proportionately weaker than my upper body.  More heavy squats needed.  Disparity corrected.  I discovered that even small indulgences resulted in a meaningful increase in body fat.  Most importantly, my InBody scan results  supported the efficacy of the CrossFit programming for optimizing body composition.  There is no reason to become obsessed with the InBody scanner but I will continue retesting every 3-4 months to get snapshots of how well my training is working.  As an ageing athlete, my primary goals are to maintain my current lean muscle mass and keep my body fat within a reasonable range.  Apart from these general parameters, the specifics are unimportant.

As a coach, I have found the InBody scanner to be a very powerful tool for helping my clients achieve their desired body composition goals within a very short time frame.  This month Shades did follow up scans for three of my personal training clients and just 6 weeks after their initial scans we saw huge improvements with relatively minor changes.

I think the reason you are resisting an InBody scan boils down to one of three possibilities:

1) Learned Helplessness - you do not believe your body composition is within your control

2) Perceived Difficulty - you believe that changing your body composition will require difficult and drastic lifestyle changes

3) Irresponsibility - you do not want to take responsibility for your health and well being, you want to eat your cake and to hell with the consequences

Actually, as hard as you train at Empower, all the money and time you commit to your fitness, I’m pretty certain reason number 3 does not describe you at all.  So, it’s either number one or number two holding you back from achieving the best version of yourself.  The good news is, you are closer than you think!  You see, CrossFit is a very effective fitness program and if you've been training at Empower for more than 6 months, chances are you have already developed a very good lean muscle mass.  Almost every Empower member we have scanned has had great muscle mass on scan one.  This means you already have a fantastic resting metabolism.  Which in turn means that to improve body composition for you requires only the smallest of adjustments.  I’ll use my three recent client success stories to illustrate:

Client A - great muscle mass, excess body fat. 
Prescription: add a daily protein shake (it is filling and protein has a thermogenic - fat burning - effect), go easier on the alcohol.  Not quit entirely, just one less glass of wine per night.   
Result after 6 weeks: Success!  Decreased body fat, increased muscle mass:)

Client B - low muscle mass, low fat, underweight
Prescription: add a daily protein shake, eat more, more resistance training
Result after 6 weeks: Success!  Increased body weight, increased body fat (no, lower is not always better), increased muscle mass:)

Client C - low muscle mass, excess body fat (worst case scenario!)
Prescription: add daily protein shake, more resistance training, go easy on the alcohol
Result after 6 weeks: Success!  Huge increase in muscle mass, fantastic drop in body fat:)

None of these clients needed to make any major changes to their daily lives in order to make significant improvements to their body composition.  But without the InBody to map exactly where they were and where they wanted to go, it would have been a guessing game as to how to optimally tweak their training and nutrition and it would have been impossible to objectively assess the results.  With accurate measuring tools it is quick and easy to make the minor adjustments required to accomplish your body composition goals.

Do you have personal body composition goals that you would like help achieving?

Want to book an InBody scan?  Reach out to Shades [email protected]

Friday Make Up Day

1) Bear Complex Ladder
Minute 1: 1 Deadlift, 1 HPC, 1 Front Squat, 1 Push Press

Minute 2: 2 Deadlift, 2 HPC, 2 Front Squat, 2 Push Press

Minute 3: 3 Deadlift, 3 HPC, 3 Front Squat, 3 Push Press

Etc…

Stop when you cannot complete the complex inside the given minute

Score = Highest minute successfully completed + reps performed in final minute

Use dumbbells, kettlebells, a medball, backpack, barbell or broomstick.  Record load to notes.

2) 21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Burpees
50ft HSW

3) FGB
3 Rounds:
1 min Wall Balls
1 min SDHP
1 min BJ
1 min PP
1 min Cal Row
1 min Rest