Nick Deacon Fitness | Blog
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14 Nov

Posted at 20:49h in Eat.

It’s been a long day, but you can finally kick back and put your feet up. The voice in your head tempts you to find a treat from the freezer or wine cabinet. Go ahead, you deserve it. Waiting to see the results of your hard work is excruciating. And in those moments of temptation, it can be easy to lose focus on the bigger goals ahead. Unfortunately we live in a society where is a reward and the focus of every special occasion. (Especially the super yummy kind that makes us overeat and ruins our health.) Happy birthday! Here’s a cake. Just married. Have some cake. A promotion! How would you like your steak? The truth is changing your body takes time, but a better reward system can help keep your fitness journey on track.   SHOULD You Reward Yourself?   Before we go any further, are rewards even a good idea? Some people don’t need rewards to keep going… Jessica Love - I don't reward myself. If I want something I buy it. The journey and experience or feeling of accomplishment is the "reward" for me. Ev A - I tell myself I am not a dog - I do not deserve a treat for being a good girl Shelly Gauvreau - The fact that I feel better is reward. Carolyn Slocum - “I love that I am 52 and can rock some booty shorts so that’s truly all the reward I need!” That’s cool for them, but what about Katie? Rewards help her stay disciplined. Katie Turner - … Maybe some people can get through on nothing but the idea of looking and feeling better, but listen, there are some days that knowing a mini vacation is on the line keeps me more disciplined than just thinking I might one day look good in a bikini. (And I don't think this means I need to reassess why I'm doing this...

08 Oct

Posted at 23:25h in Emotional Health, Think.

LAST TIME:   We discussed how our evolution sometimes gets in our way as described in the primer to >>The Polyvagal Theory<<. If you missed Part I, make sure to read it  >>here<<. We discussed a bunch of things I learned from Dr. Seth Oberst, like how emotions can get stuck in your tissues, how that can affect your posture, walking patterns, and even your face.  Now, we’re about to dig deeper into stress, support, and what we can do to better live our lives and avoid getting “stuck."   7. Stress-Reduction is a MISTAKE   I go to countless conferences and seminars for fitness, yoga, nutrition, meditation, rehab, physical therapy, medicine, and totally weird stuff that escapes category. Even across disciplines, they can all agree on one thing: The biggest factor common to untold chronic diseases, disorders, and a general lack of well-being is STRESS. If that's the case, the solution looks simple enough - REDUCE STRESS. Duh. But what does that even mean? ENGAGE IN STRESS-REDUCING ACTIVITIES Like meditation, light exercise, journaling, practicing gratitude, time with friends and family, prayer, restful sleep, etc. AVOID STRESS-INDUCING BEHAVIORS Like smoking, drinking, sleep deprivation, confrontations, maintaining toxic relationships, being late and sitting in traffic or a crowded subway ...

14 Sep

Posted at 19:00h in Beginners Guides

When you’re just getting started, it can feel like you need a physiology degree to understand what’s going on in your body. It’s important to track progress, but some metrics are downright useless - like BMI. I’ll teach you why you should forget about it, and 4 critical fat loss stats to focus on instead. What is BMI?   BMI (Body Mass Index) basically tells you how big or small you are for your height. (And most of the time, that information isn’t news to you.) It comes from this simple equation comparing your weight to your height.   photo credit: Wikipedia That number is then compared to a reference chart of many, many, many people, and you’re put into a category (underweight, normal, overweight, obese, etc.) photo credit: Wikipedia Why is it used?   1. It’s a quick and easy way to estimate the average person’s body fat. This is because gaining weight usually means getting fatter. Losing weight usually means losing fat (and some muscle unless you’re following an intelligently designed body recomposition program like this one). Unfortunately, it doesn’t take into account age, sex, or LITERALLY the most important factor in obesity - how much FAT you actually carry on your body. 2. It saves time and money for research scientists. Inviting 5,000 people to do anything costs time and mon-ey. So when you’re conducting large-scale research, why call everyone in individually to do an expensive body-composition analysis when you can just email them asking for their height and weight? Much easier. Besides, their individual body composition doesn’t matter. Unless the research is on a unique population like bodybuilders, BMI already does a decent job of estimating the average. If they’re they’re muscular enough to throw off the BMI scale, then they’re not the average. Their data point simply gets washed out as an irrelevant outlier. 3. The medical world doesn’t like change. That’s why...

10 Sep

Posted at 21:07h in Emotional Health, Movement, Think.

In my exploration and study of training, movement, therapy, emotional trauma, and the human condition, I have witnessed all sorts of SEEMINGLY unrelated phenomena. But it’s always tied together somehow.   Just two weeks ago I attended a new course by >>Dr. Seth Oberst: Stress, Movement, and Pain<<. Unexpectedly, it has helped me tie countless ideas together with the common concept of >>The Polyvagal Theory<<*. Although I didn’t know what to expect, the course was nothing short of impressive.   Of all the things I love about Dr. Seth Oberst, his teaching style takes the cake. Unlike most "teachers" who spit information at you and test you on your parroting skills, Dr. Oberst takes the high road. Once he gives you the raw materials, an impressive curation of information, science, and clinical case studies, he encourages you to synthesize your own takeaways. This is a refreshing take on nurturing your own creativity and pure education.   After several days of digesting it all, I have compiled my own notes and takeaways for you.   *If you have not yet read the >>PRIMER<<, go do that first. Then you will understand the underlying concepts and mechanisms I am about to discuss.   A Flood of Emotion   After deep scientific lecture, we moved to begin practicing the Somatic Recovery techniques on each other.   During the first demonstration, I sat and watched in disbelief.   The first guy to receive the technique f'n cried. The guy f'n cried.   WHAT.   For seemingly no reason.   On the table, he asked if there was a tear in his eye. After sitting up, he described getting cold. After a few moments on the table, he began to actually well up with emotion. It was as if it needed time to bubble up after he sat up.   "VOODOO MAGIC," I thought.   So I partner up with my friend, which I believe was a key component as...

06 Sep

Posted at 18:25h in Uncategorized

Your ancestors developed key reflexes to protect you from danger in emergency situations. This is good because your survival didn't depend on thinking before acting. This is bad because in modern society, these reflexes get triggered, and get stuck on repeat. Since they're beneath conscious control, we can't reset them with our thoughts. Using these as a lens, I would argue that getting stuck in these emergency survival reflex patterns can literally begin to explain just about every malady I can think of. (Or at the very least, play a role in):   weight gain carb cravings diabetes lethargy and chronic fatigue back pain muscle tightness and stiffness any postural pain feeling of stress / overwhelm feeling of loneliness, isolation, disconnectedness social anxiety blank stares; ability to win staring contests inability to laugh/cry difficulty swallowing / coughing / gag problems dry mouth, oral health problems constipation / diarrhea vision and hearing problems addiction lack of motivation, feeling helpless, like things are pointless, useless to even try wounds that won't heal   So how does it all work? Survival Reflexes   For my first trick, I will now attempt to make this mess of science as digestible as possible. Okay so your brain as you know it is the product of MILLIONS of years of evolution. Before your earliest ancestors had the luxury of conscious thought, every action and behavior was instinctive, reactionary, and subconscious. In other words, you weren't the boss - your DNA was. If you ever found yourself in danger, your ancestors had already passed on reflexes telling you exactly what to do. (What's FREAKIN COOL is that they can still be observed in all of mammalian life in the wild! I've got some videos for you later.) As time went on, subsequent brain layers developed, and our mammalian nervous systems became increasingly complex. New layers brought with them new survival abilities, and...

23 Jul

Posted at 17:28h in Eat.

Below you will find my earliest experiences with the now-popular intermittent fasting, as well as 3 of my favorite articles that summarize the key points you need to know if you’re interested in this style of eating. Experiments with Intermittent Fasting - Precision Nutrition Dr. Ben House passionately rips into Intermittent Fasting with serious science (and vitriol). Intermittent Fasting for Women - Precision Nutrition Could You Imagine IF..?   My very first experience with intermittent fasting came back in 2008. Back then, it was still just called “fasting." As a young bodybuilder, I was discovering the limits of my digestive system as it struggled to trudge through over 4,000 calories a day of eggs, pasta, meat, and sweet potatoes. Despite the overfeeding, my energy wasn’t great. I was always conscious of how full I was - even going into the next meal. And every bite of food tasted terrible. It was just too much. I felt like if I could just get ONE day of reprieve from eating, I thought my digestion could catch up and I’d make better use of my food. I’d get better pumps in the gym, muscles would grow, and all would be right in the world. But I was TERRIFIED. As a bodybuilder, I went to the church of gains every Sunday and squatted away my sins for fear of ever losing my hard-earned muscles. Intellectually, it all made perfect sense. Just let the body handle the food it has for a moment and then jump back on track. Even if you’re eating less, why would this be any worse or different than a dieting phase where you’re chronically calorie-deprived? Too bad the meathead holy gospel preaches a stubborn adherence to beliefs like “more is better”. So, I asked a few of my jacked gym-bro mentors at the time what they thought, all of whom were very hard-working....

24 May

Posted at 19:30h in Eat.

When I was a kid, I loved junk food. I grew up on the best junk in the world. When I moved to the US, I discovered a whole new world of wonderful junk: like Chips Ahoy!, these damn things, and good ol’ ice cream sandwiches. That was my diet in a white chocolate-coated nutshell. Eventually, I decided migraines were lame, and I didn’t want to end up tired and sick like my family members. Besides, being skinny sucked, so I set out to make some muscles. I started eating better, but I continued to struggle with wanting all the sweet junk my body was used to. Do The Opposite. Most people think of eating healthy like it means eating LESS. As someone who knew nothing about nutrition, I observed that people who eat lots of junk were unhealthy. I knew I wasn’t on a good path. I also noticed that I never saw anyone eat “healthy” foods in high quantities. So in my quest for building muscle, I had an idea: What happens if I eat a ton, but instead of crappy food, I used "healthy" food? I filled my cupboards with all the classic bodybuilding staples (oats, egg whites, brown rice, chicken breast…) and started eating. Did I get fat? Did I get muscular? Fill It Up, Please. So I just moved to Texas from the City of Philadelphia. And I mean like, INSIDE the city proper. Skyscrapers, one-way streets, parallel parking, you know, a city. Back in Philly, I was driving my car about a mile a week. Lately? I've been driving 50 miles a DAY under the hot Texas sun. Needless to say, my gas tank is emptying much faster. I like to let it run down to completely empty (just like Kramer), before stopping to fill it all the way back up....

18 May

Posted at 21:08h in Eat.

5 Reasons You Don’t Look Like You Workout   There’s nothing worse than putting in the time and effort in the gym only to look in the mirror and have nothing to show for it. While your workouts are important, they’re not everything. You could be missing a critical piece of the puzzle - your nutrition. Here are the 5 most common nutrition mistakes that are keeping you from looking like you actually work out. 1. Eating too MANY calories It might seem obvious, but like many others, you could be making this mistake without even realizing it. Just because you cut out processed sugar or eliminated all carbs and went all-out keto doesn’t give you a pass to eat an endless amount of avocados and bacon. The food you DO eat still provides energy, and any excess needs a place to be stored. Gluten-free cookies and Paleo muffins are still treats with more calories than your body needs. You can’t always rely on simply choosing “healthy foods” to regulate your calories and how much you’re eating. Listen, I love me some coconut oil too, but be honest - do you really need that scoop in your morning coffee? By the way, do you like to cook? You could be overdoing the oils. One tablespoon of coconut oil alone is about 150 calories, and that’s just greasing the pan! Whether you’re stir-frying roasted veggies or keeping the eggs from sticking, these fats add up faster than anything else. 2. Not eating enough calories It sounds counterintuitive, but you’ll also struggle to reveal any muscle if you’re not eating enough. This works in two ways: Hormones Binge Cycles When you undereat (and over-exercise*), your metabolism adjusts to keep you from accidentally starving yourself. Changes (not defects) to key hormones like leptin, thyroid, and ghrelin make you feel tired, lazy, and...