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Hosts:

Kevin Larrabee (Twitter), Dr. Jonathan Fass,

and Leigh Peele

FitCast News

• Destination Abs Update
• Round Table on the Holiday Gameplan

Mailbag

• Hi, my main goal is to gain healthy weight and put on some mass. I have been swimming 90 laps every morning and lifting weights in the afternoon. Most of the time i swim 1/2 mile after I lift weights( i lift 6 days a week, 1 body part a day).

  My question : Is the second swim of the day detrimental to my goals, I try to eat plenty of clean foods but need more fat… what are your thoughts?

  Example:
  6am- swim and abs
  730am- breakfast- oatmeal, whey protein and fruit
  10am- eggs, fruit, cereal
  11am- chest and triceps, 1/2 mile swim
  1pm whey protein banana
  145pm sandwich
  3 almonds
  430pm apple with peanut butter
  6- fish/chicken, sweet potato or pasta, veggies
  8- cottage cheese
  9pm- casein shake -Tim

• Hello all!
  First of all, I’m a 28-year-old 5’1″ female who comes in between 15-18% body fat (depending on my diet factor) and I’ve been lifting seriously for about two years. My question concerns my tendency toward lower body injuries. When I first started lifting on a serious level, I noticed a lot of pain in my hips and the piriformis muscle. I took a break from heavy lifting and began a stretching regime focused on hip mobility and the pain has more or less subsided. I went back to my regular squatting, straight leg deadlifts and sumo squats and evetually developed pain in my left knee. A trainer at my gym suggested it was due to tight hamstrings and suggested a more intense stretching routine. Sure enough, the pain in my knee eventually went away and I went back to my old squatting, deadlifting, etc. ways. Fast forward to today and I’ve been seeing a chiropractor for what appears to be cervical facet joint inflammation. He’s been adjusting my back once a week and giving me “electro-therapy “on the affected area. It seems to be helping but I’ve decided to learn my lesson and give up squatting and dead lifting all together. I’m not a professional athlete and the risk of injury is no longer worth it to me. My question is this: Is it possible for “kinder” exercises such as the leg press machine to provide the same results as squatting? I suppose this is more of a question for John so I’d like to ask him what he would recommend to someone in my situtation. Thanks to you all for such a great show! -Sarah
• Hey gang, i have questions about 2 diets. I don’t follow either of these diets, but I know people who do and I have seen some unbelievable things so I wanted your thoughts. First, the raw foods diet. I know that to some people, the raw foods diet may seem like a very hippy, vegan, thing to do. I watched the movie simply raw (i recommend watching it if you havent, its very inspiring, at least watch the youtube trailer) a couple weeks ago however, and what it did for some people with diabetes is remarkable. I showed it to other people I know with diabetes and they began a raw foods diet. Since then, they have shown the same results. What do you guys think about a raw foods diet? Obviously, it is working great for some people, and therefore there must be some merit to it. On the other hand, the diet is very low in protein and very low in fat. Is there any crossover between a raw foods diet, and someone working out? The other diet is the primal diet, which is sortof the opposite. Eat like our ancestors did. It makes sense to avoid all the processed foods in our diets these days, but many primal eaters eat lots of organ meats and really fatty meats. Is this healthy? Sorry for the random question, but I was wondering if you guys had any experience with these diets, and if so, how they relate to working out and getting HUGE like kevin is. -Michelle
• Ok since you were sick (from a person who said awhile back you never get sick) with the flu did you work out with it If you did why did you decide to work out while sick;  or did you take a break from training. When should we NOT train and with what symptoms can we train with. Today snapped an almost streak of 2 years of not being sick. I had a stomach virus and I said forget it with training today.

  Thanks,-Rick

• Dear Kevin and the fitcast crew,
  First off, i love your podcast and have learnt infinite amounts from you. Thank you very much.

  I was hoping that Mr Fass would be able to help me with my problem.
  Here’s the deal.
  I’m a long distance runner (i also stregth train – i score points for that right?)
  Anyway, i’ve had lateral calf pain in my right leg for around a week now which has stopped me from being able to run. The right calf is tighter than the left, as is the IT band.
  I have been to the physio who did a proper assessment and has found a substantial downward rotation in the right side of my pelvis which means that i’m overusing the right leg a lot and the weight distribution is more to the right hand side. The wear on the sole of my shoes showed what he said was as marked a difference as he had ever seen.

  I’ve been given a PNF stretch/exercise which involves bringing my knee to chest and pushing away which he says will help to correct this. He also said that i should see a podiatrist.

  My questions are:
  1. What could be causing the rotation? Glute medius dysfunction? Rounding of my right shoulder caused by writing one handed hunched over/working on the computer?

  2. Isn’t seeing a podiatrist and getting shoe inserts or something jsut masking the problem?
  3. Is this something that means i cannot run in life? (i’m only 18 and had high hopes of marathon competition at a competitive level)
  4. Could the problem be caused by running shoes? Would barefoot running be different?

  Please please please help me, I am distraught and want to have a long running career. What can I do?

  Thank you for your time.
  Tim, Birmingham, England.

Round Table
The Holiday Game Plan, what should people to in regards to training and nutrition this holiday season?