About sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

Certified Athletic Trainer in Boston, working towards my MS in Applied Nutrition at Northeastern University, with a focus on fitness and nutrition. Food lover, Red Sox fanatic, Fitness enthusiast. Searching for the key to a healthier society.

4 Tips To Improve Your Pull Ups

Posted on March 25, 2013 by sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

So, you want to do more pull ups huh? Or maybe you just want to be able to do ONE. I don’t blame you, because pull ups are badass.

Not only are they badass, but they are fully functional should you ever find yourself running from a rabid dog or say… a pack of zombies. If you can’t pull yourself up and over a wall or fence, those ~~zombies~~ dogs will get you every time.

Needless to say, not only are pull ups a great test of upper body strength, they’re also an excellent life skill. And although the ever popular kipping pull-ups from Cross Fit can be equally as functional in times of danger, what I’m talking about here are true, dead hang pull ups.

None of that “use your whole body for momentum” crap. (Sorry Cross-fitters)

I have had several readers send me questions on pull ups, and how I have been able to increase mine. The answer is really more simple than people think: Do More Pull-ups.

“But how can I do more pull ups if I can’t even do one yet?” you might be asking. Last summer, I could do 2 unassisted chin ups and zero unassisted pull ups. Now I am up to 8 chin-ups and 3 conventional pull ups. The methods I used are listed below, and these are methods that can be helpful to anyone looking to increase their pull ups/chin ups. I’m still working on mine, and I still include these methods in my workouts, although I’ve had to take a slight hiatus lately because of my decreased grip. I’ll be back at it soon though, and hoping to get to 10 chin ups and 5 pull ups by the end of this summer!

Bands - Resistance/Assistance bands should be your best friend, especially if you can’t do at least one pull up on your own. You can buy a heavy duty band, hook it up to a pull up bar, and you’ve got everything you really need to begin your path to pull up domination. How to use them: Loop the band around a pull up bar. Put either one knee, both knees, or your feet in the band and pull away. Make sure to keep your core engaged, control any excess swinging from the band, and lift yourself in a controlled motion bringing your chest toward the bar. Variations: Holding your position at various points will help your body to build strength at various points in your lift. Try holding at your top position for 1-2 seconds before lowering, making sure to really engage the lats. When to include them: Bands can be used at any time! They are a valuable tool for those who can’t yet do a pull up, but they’re also a valuable tool for those who can already do pull ups, but want to work on increasing reps, or strengthening a weak point in their lift.

Here’s me doing some assisted chin-ups last summer. I have one knee through the band, as that’s most comfortable for me.

Negatives: Pull up negatives are devils in disguise. The idea of them sounds quite easy, but the execution is far from simple. To perform a pull up negative, jump up into your top position, hold for a second, and then lower your self very slowly to the bottom dead-hang position. How to use them: When I say lower slowly, I’m talking anywhere from 4-8 seconds to lower all the way to your dead-hang position. The key is to keep your lats and upper back engaged without letting your shoulders creep up around your ears. This should be a very controlled motion, and when done correctly, should either leave you wimpering, nauseous, or curled up on the floor begging for mercy. When to include them: Negatives are great on their own or as a way to finish out a set. Try doing them on their own with 3 sets of 8 nice slow reps. Or you could do what I do, and finish out my sets to my goal rep range. For instance, it’s my goal to do sets of 8 neutral grip pull ups. When I’m at the gym, I’ll do as many unassisted neutral grip pull ups as I can, which at this point is 4. I’ll then finish out the set with 4 negatives, to end up at 8. The next set, I may only hit 3 full pull ups, so I’ll finish that set out with 5 negatives, and so on.

Repetition - If there is one thing that will help you be able to do more pull ups, it’s doing more pull ups. If you want to increase your reps, you have to be doing them more than once per week. If you’re doing 3 sets of 3 once per week, it’s going to be damn near impossible to add more reps without a little magic. If you’re mixing in high reps with the bands, sets with negatives, and just plain old hopping on the bar whenever you get a chance, you better believe you’ll increase your reps! I can’t stress this enough: more reps will lead to more reps. It’s really pretty simple.

Accessory Work- To be able to do more pull ups, not only do you need to up your reps, but you also need to get stronger in all of the right places. Your Lattissimus Dorsi (or Lats, or bat wings) is the prime mover in a pull-up, along with a smaller muscle called the Teres Major. You get significant help from other muscles such as biceps, triceps, trapezius, pecs, and others throughout the movement as well, depending on your hand position. Rowing motions will help to strengthen your back musculature, as well as the accessory muscles in your arms and will be the most beneficial. Including inverted rows, or “let me ups” in your programming is a great way to get yourself used to lifting your own body weight. These will also help you increase your grip strength on the barbell (which will transfer to the pull up bar).

Inverted row. The more horizontal your body, the more challenging this exercise will be.

Bonus Note: If you really want to increase or improve your pull ups, your first order of business needs to be buying a pull up bar. Having a bar in your house will allow you to work on your pull ups all the time, not just when you’re at the gym. Plus, when it’s staring you in the face day in and day out, it’s harder to ignore and avoid it!

Now get out there and do some pull ups! Do you have any other tips for increasing your reps on this badass lift?

Random Monday Thoughts

Posted on March 18, 2013 by sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

I don’t really have anything today that would make up a full post, but I just wanted to put a couple of thoughts out there. Besides, I wouldn’t want to make you read anything too detailed or heavy when you’re trying so hard to recover from your St. Patricks Day shenanigans yesterday (Yes, you there with the raging hangover that all of your co-workers are pretending they don’t notice, I’m talking to you).

Random Monday Thought #1: I want to say a HUGE thank you for the response I got on my last post. I always love my readers, but I especially love it when we get such a good conversation going, especially about such an important topic. Everyone had excellent, thoughtful comments, and I’m glad that many of you seem to agree with my concerns about the HLB world. When I published that post, I tweeted it directly at Healthy Living Blogs themselves because I wanted to make sure they got to read it, in the hopes that it would draw some sort of response. You would think that the people who essentially own the HLB brand would be happy to address my concerns, and maybe even offer some answers to the questions I proposed. (Or at the very least, a cookie-cutter “we’re sorry you feel that way” type of reply). But no response yet, which to me just seems irresponsible. Maybe they want the HLB title to be associated with disordered eating and other unhealthy practices? I’m not sure, but I’m annoyed.

Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.

Random Monday Thought #2: I’m still ridiculously sore from my lift on Friday. So sore I’ve been walking like a cowboy all weekend, I call it my cowboy strut. After mangling my finger and being under no-sweating orders from my doctor for 2 weeks, I more than ready to go when I hit the weight room last week. Never mind that the finger splint I’m still in means that my grip is severely decreased, so I’m pretty much limited to back-loaded barbell stuff for now (Go ahead, try overhand-gripping a loaded barbell or heavy dumbbells without your index fingers. Not so easy, is it?) So Friday I finally got my butt back in the weight room, and to my delight, only lost 10 lb off my back squat after nearly 3 weeks off. Now though? I feel as though I’ve ripped every muscle from my pelvis. Me thinks I jumped in with a little too much too soon. Ah well, live and learn, right?

Random Monday Thought #3: In the past, I’ve talked about girls nights I have with a group of friends about once every month. We pick a theme, pick someone to host, and then all make something (food or drink) according to the theme. Honestly, although we all have the best intentions, we often end up with a mix of bread, cheese, sugar, and wine, because that’s just the way it goes. (And there’s totally nothing wrong with that). We had one of these dinners this past weekend, and my lovely friend decided to make the theme Rules on Rules on Rules. Essentially, there was no sugar, butter, or flour allowed. And you know what? I really think it turned out to be our best dinner yet. We had vegetable spring rolls, spaghetti squash/black bean tacos, goat cheese stuffed dates, and risotto, and it was all absolutely delicious. Proof that get togethers don’t always have to be about junk food and alcohol, and that healthy eating can still be fun, creative, and delicious!

That is all for now! Enjoy your monday, and please, no napping at your desk. It’s not attractive. Especially if you’re still covered in green glitter and fake tattoos from your attempt at being Irish yesterday.

Would you expect the heads of HLB to respond to my last post? Have you ever gone back to the gym too hard too soon after an injury? Do you have any fun traditions with friends that involve food?

Healthy Living? I’m Not So Sure Anymore

Posted on March 13, 2013 by sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

This post might get me in trouble in the blogging world. But I’ve been thinking about it for a while, so I have to get it out there.

I’m a part of a community called Healthy Living Blogs, which, by definition, should include blogs pertaining to all aspects of healthy living: nutrition, fitness, weight lifting, wellness, etc. While yes, there are many different types of blogs under the HLB umbrella, it seems that there is a certain (negative) perception about what an HLB is. And unfortunately, many HLB blogs tend to live up (or down?) to that perception.

While there are many HLBs out there that promote true fitness, wellness, and nutrition, there seem to be just as many that promote much less healthy practices. It seems to me that the blogging world is full of disordered eating and other unhealthy practices, and that many readers look up to and even emulate these lifestyles.

There are countless blogs where people literally talk about eating “bird food”, or whose daily food consumption consists of raw veggies, PB2, and protein powder “pudding” (what the heck is that anyway?). There are blogs out there with emaciated girls posting multiple pictures of themselves and their limited food daily, leading their readers to believe that that’s what healthy living looks like. There are bloggers who flood their Instagram feed with pictures of their emaciated bodies, and the worst part is the commenters who often say things like “I wish I had legs as skinny as yours!” Some blogs make me cringe to click through their pages, seeming more like “pro-anorexia” blogs than promoters of healthy living.

And it’s not just one or two blogs that I’ve noticed with this same sort of message. There are a lot of them. Of course, there are some amazing Healthy Living Blogs out there, those that promote true fitness, nutrition, and overall health. But chatter around the internet (which is a smaller place than people think) leads me to believe that these people – myself included – are the outliers in the HLB community. Or at least that is the perception. There is a lot of talk about what people think HLB’s are, and most of it is not positive.

So my question is this: Should I not be associated with HLBs? Is calling this a Healthy Living Blog tarnishing my reputation before I even write anything? I sure as heck don’t want to be associated with blogs that are promoting extremely unhealthy images and ideas under the guise of being healthy. I don’t want to be a part of something that can be triggering for young readers who may be struggling with disordered eating themselves. I don’t want to be a part of something that could potentially push a young, impressionable reader over the edge into a world of under-eating, over-exercising, and overall unhealthy practices.

What I do want is to reach people of all shapes and sizes, provide a little motivation, inspiration, and information, and help people to become better versions of themselves. My blog is, as far as I’m concerned, about healthy living. Fitness, strength training, nutrition, and general wellness are all under the broad category of healthy living, are they not? But while I don’t want to be associated with the practices I listed above, I don’t want to completely get away from the HLB world either. For every reader who falls into the unhealthy-healthy-living trap, there has got to be one who is looking for real, true information. Instead of backing away from the HLB community, is it unrealistic to think that the perception of HLBs can be changed? If enough truly healthy bloggers emerge and speak up against those that are promoting unhealthy practices, maybe the HLB community can be seen as a truly inspirational group of bloggers, and not just a bunch of girls who compete to see who can eat less and workout more.

Health is not about having unnaturally stick thin legs and hands that look too big on your arms. Healthy living is not about consuming zero carbs and weird concoctions made from protein powder and cottage cheese. Healthy eating does not mean fooling naive readers who believe everything they read on the internet, and leading them to believe that they too should be at a dangerously low body fat percentage. Health is not subsisting on dangerously low calorie levels each day while using food and camera trickery to make it look like you’re eating all day, every day, yet still maintaining an 80 lb frame.

These are things that are dangerous to readers who feel that whatever they’re doing is not good enough, because they can’t ever get their legs to be “that thin”. These are things that promote extremely unhealthy lifestyles, yet they’re proudly promoted by the HLB community. I guess my message here is to readers, bloggers, and the HLB world as a whole. When did those sort of blogs become the Healthy Living norm? And what can we do to change it? If this gets me in trouble, and HLB wants me to take the badge off my blog, than so be it. But I think it’s an important question to put out there. When did healthy living become less about being healthy and more about being (dangerously) thin?

A Day (or 2) of meals on IF

Posted on March 11, 2013 by sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

I’m so sorry that I’ve disappeared for a week! Actually, I was literally gone for a week, traveling for work in South Carolina. I didn’t get any writing done before I left, because silly old me thought that I’d have plenty of time to write while I was gone. But I should have known better, because I know how these trips go, and I know I never have enough energy at the end of the day to form a complete sentence, let alone write a blog post. Anyhow, I’m back, trying to adjust to daylight savings time, and also trying to readjust my food schedule.

Before I left, a few of my readers asked me to provide an example of some of my meals, specifically while following Intermittent Fasting. I guess people are very curious about what others eat, especially bloggers. If you are one of the few who requested a peak into my IF eating habits, here you go!

Like I’ve said before, while following Intermittent Fasting for a month, I was fasting from around 8 pm until 12 pm every day. I say “about” because the times did shift — sometimes it was 11 – 7, heck, sometimes I cut it a little short and went 8-11. For the most part, a 16 hour fasting window was followed every day, with a few days of longer fasting periods (17 hours) and a few days of shorter periods due to my work/training schedule (14-15 hours).

Nobody’s perfect, right?

Anyway, if following the LeanGains style exactly, my biggest meal should have been directly following a workout, with the rest of my calories tapering throughout the day. I tried to do this, but it didn’t always happen. Please forgive me, IF police.

The following are a couple of days of food, one a heavy lifting day and one not.

Lift Day:

Wake up: 6:30 am 1 cup coffee, 8 oz water with 1 scoop Greens Powder

Lift session: 9:30 am. 7 g BCAAs mixed w/16 oz water.

Meal 1: 11 am. Egg sandwich made with 2 eggs, 1 slice cheddar cheese on Ezekial English Muffin, Smoothie made with 1 C almond milk, 2 C spinach, 1 Banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

12 pm: 1 C coffee

Meal 2: 4 pm – Yogurt bowl. Fage 2% Plain Greek yogurt, 1 tsp honey, 1/4 C raisins, 2 Tbs peanut butter, 1 Tbs almond slivers, dash cinnamon

(I’m not usually hungry by the time the second meal comes around, so this type of thing packs in a decent amount of calories without too much volume)

Meal 3: 7 pm – 1 C roasted broccoli, 1 grilled chicken breast, 3-4 eggplant ravioli in pesto sauce

Dessert : 8 pm – 2 dark chocolate/caramels from Trader Joes

Non-Lift Day:

Wake up: 6:30 am. 1 C coffee, 8 oz water with 1 scoop Greens Powder

Meal 1: 12 pm: Yogurt Bowl – Greek Yogurt, 2 Tbs peanut butter, 1 tsp Honey, dash Cinnamon, 1 Tbs almond slivers, 1/4 C raisins

Meal 2: 4 pm: Tuna salad (made with 1/2 Tbs mayo, 2 Tbs greek yogurt) over baby spinach, with carrots and bell peppers. 1 C Zucchini strips with 2 Tbs hummus.

Snack 5 pm: Smoothie made with 1 C almond milk, 1 banana, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 2 C spinach

Meal 3: 7:30 pm: About 4 oz Salmon, 1 C “sweet potato dish” (made with sweet potatoes, bell peppers, zuchini, squash, all roasted together with EVOO and spices) 1/2 C roasted brussels sprouts

*All measurements here are estimates, I don’t measure out each portion of each meal.

So there is a couple days for you. My food varies from day to day, so not every lift/non-lift day looks like this. Something I do tend to eat over and over are the yogurt bowls, though. I’m a breakfast lover, and love this combination of foods. I know I should be eating more lean protein/veggies, but the greek yogurt/pb/raisin combo makes me happy! I didn’t want to totally cut out breakfast foods just because I’m following IF, so this is my compromise. I always try to make a point to include a good amount of veggies with at least 2 meals, and I try to vary them often. Spinach is a staple for me, but I also like to include a lot of broccoli, carrots, zuchinni, kale, brussels sprouts, and beets. Looking at the two days above, I see that I definitely did not get enough veggies on the lift day, and that is where the green smoothie and greens powder come into play. It’s not perfect, but hey, who is?

While I was away this past week, I was at the mercy of other people’s eating schedules, so IF just did not happen. I didn’t want to be that girl that makes everything more difficult for everyone else. I also ended up eating a lot more sugar and bread products than I normally eat, which made a huge (negative) impact on how my body felt, even just after 1 week. It’s amazing how just a few days of poor eating choices can really make you feel like total crap! (You know you’ve eaten too much sugar lately when the thought of something sweet just makes your stomach turn). I never thought I would say this, but I am really excited to get back to my IF schedule, as well as getting back to my usual food choices. I have a feeling water, veggies, and greens will be my best friends this week.

Happy Monday everyone!

1 Month of Intermittent Fasting

Posted on March 4, 2013 by sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)

I can’t believe I’m already at the end of my 4 weeks of Intermittent Fasting. For those of you who are new here, you can read my previous posts about this here, here, and here to find out more. For those that are all caught up, let’s move on!

I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks for two reasons:

1. I actually survived. Before I started this experiment, I thought I might die from not eating for 16 hours each day. Not eat from 8pm until noon? Are you crazy? It turns out, it has actually been surprisingly awesome, and although I haven’t been perfect, I have found it relatively easy to do.

2. The 4 weeks flew by. I really thought I’d be counting down the days until I could eat on a “normal” schedule again, when in reality, I don’t have any desire to go back to the way I used to do things (eat immediately upon waking, with frequent snacks during the day).

The following are my major findings for the past 4 weeks:

Physical Findings:

Strictly looking at the numbers, I have not lost any body weight (which is ok by me, and if you’ll recall, was not one of my goals for this process). Unfortunately, I am traveling for work this week and was unable to test my body fat percentage before I left. However, I do feel leaner, although any change in body fat in 4 weeks is probably very very small. It also could be just a decrease in abdominal bloating that I’m noticing, but overall I’ve felt better in my clothes than I did a month ago. I honestly think that if I kept this plan up for another couple months, I could be well on my way to my desired BF%.

Going beyond those very basic numbers, I have noticed a whole range of other physical changes during the past month.

- Gastrointestinal changes – I have dealt with many GI symptoms for the past several years without ever having an official diagnosis. Throughout the past four weeks, I have generally felt the best I have in years in terms of GI symptoms. Save for a couple rough days due to questionable food/drink choices, I’ve felt excellent in this department. I’ve had almost no bloating/discomfort for an entire month now, which is pretty incredible. Now, I’m really not sure whether this has to do with my eating schedule, or due to the fact that I’ve cut out most of my snacking (ie, Luna bars and things similar to that). My inclination is towards the latter, but I really don’t know. Either way, I’m not complaining!

- Sleep Changes – I’ve been needing a ton of sleep lately, not feeling rested without 8-9 hours per night. I’m not sure if this is connected to IF at all, or if it’s just due to increased stress at work. I also didn’t get a good nights sleep for about 4 nights after my finger ordeal last Sunday, so that’s a bummer.

- Energy Levels – Besides this past week with very little sleep, my energy levels have been so much better during the day than normal. I haven’t been hitting that mid afternoon slump, and I’m assuming it’s because of the fact that I’m not on an insulin rollercoaster from eating all day long.

This tends to be me around 2 pm on a normal schedule.

Workouts: My biggest findings related to my workouts were that BCAAs were, in fact, essential for a quality fasted lift. By the time I was lifting, I was generally 13-14 hours into my fast. On days when I forgot or plain just didn’t take my BCAAs, my lifts and conditioning sessions suffered. My strength only decreased slightly on these days, but I also felt shaky, dizzy, and short of breath very easily. It was not pleasant. On days when I took my BCAAs though, I was able to lift just fine, even hitting a max deadlift of 185 for a single 2 weeks ago. Takeaway? BCAAs helped my fasted lifts a lot, despite the fact that they taste like death.

Mental/Emotional Findings: Like I said, when I started this, I anticipated being miserable and hating every second of it, especially at first. Being someone who used to eat first thing upon waking and graze all day, I wasn’t sure how I could tolerate the daily fasts. At first, it was a little bit difficult to not eat in the morning. However, after about 10 days, I started to enjoy it, and found a sort of peace with not eating in the morning. I know that sounds weird, but it’s the only way I know how to explain it. Instead of starting my day immediately with food, and literally thinking about food and hunger all day, I was able to focus on other things in the mornings, which led to less thinking about food for the rest of the day.

In fact, just the other day, the morning after my finger incident, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I woke up and said “I’m going to eat breakfast this morning!” thinking that it would be comforting (yes, I am an emotional eater for sure!). But when I went to go prepare breakfast, I realized that I didn’t actually want it, and that I knew I would feel better during the day if I held off eating for a few hours. Overcoming emotional eating with IF? I’ll take it.

The one thing that was a little tough was the serious sugar cravings I had for the first two weeks. I’m not sure if this is normal during the beginning of an IF protocol, or if my body was just rebounding from my decreased sugar intake (due to decreased snacking).

Will I continue this after the experiment ends? I think I absolutely will incorporate this into my normal routine once I’m done with the whole experiment. I love the way I’ve felt while doing this, and like I said above, this regimen has really brought me to peace with food and realizing my actual hunger cues (not psychological hunger cues). I don’t think though, that I’d be able to follow this strictly for the rest of my life (nor would I want to). More than likely, I’ll end up following a schedule where I do at least 3-4 days with fasts each week, but giving myself flexibility when I need it (or just plain need a break).

**Note: For success during my fasting times, hydration was key. I’m really bad at keeping myself hydrated some times, and symptoms of dehydration were seriously magnified while fasting. To be successful with this, I really believe that you have to work very hard to maintain proper hydration, especially during the fasting periods, or they really do feel like pure torture.

Would I recommend this to others?

I would definitely recommend this nutritional style to others, but only those with a very strong nutritional foundation in place. This is not for people who are going to fast, and then pig out on bags of chips and popcorn. This style of eating takes a very good understanding of nutritional needs, macronutrients, energy needs, etc. I would not recommend this to someone who is looking for a crash diet or easy fix. I would also be extremely hesitant to recommend this to those with a history of disordered eating (whether it be restrictive or binge eating). I can imagine that it would be very easy for someone to turn this into an extremely restrictive and dangerous diet if those tendencies were present. There were even a few days where I had to force myself to eat more at the end of the day after realizing I had only taken in about 1200 calories that day. (Not enough for someone my size). Likewise, those prone to binge cycles may have a lot of difficulty with control on this type of diet.

What’s Next?

If you recall, my nutritional experiment called for IF, followed by 4 weeks of Carb Back Loading (CBL), followed by 4 weeks of Paleo. Unfortunately, with the recent finger episode, I am not yet allowed to lift heavy (and might not be able to for another few weeks). CBL is a plan that is designed for people who are training hard and lifting heavy, so it would be pointless for me to try that now and expect any significant results. I think what I’ll do is continue with IF for the next 2-3 weeks until I can get back into my training regimen, since I like it so much, and move on once I can start training again. This week is a little hiccup in the whole plan because I’m traveling with the Lacrosse team that I work with, and our schedule would make it very difficult for me to keep up with a strict IF. So while I’m here, I’m back on a “normal” eating schedule, which I don’t mind temporarily. So back to IF next week, and I’ll update you all when I’m moving into the CBL phase!

I know I originally said I would include a sample day of eats for me on IF for you all, but then this post got really long. Would anyone still be interested or should I just skip that idea all together?

I Train Therefore I Eat.

Nutrition, Strength Training, and joie de vivre

Author Archives: sdorsay (itrainthereforeieat)