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Ostale teme => Off topic => Iz sveta nauke => Temu započeo: mikiveliki Avgust 15, 2007, 05:02:20 posle podne
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Charles Poliquin – The Best Assessment Tools and Eating Programs for Fat Loss
Renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin kicked off day two. Presenting on nutrition no less, Poliquin was arguably this year's most anticipated speaker for attendees and fellow presenters alike. It was standing room only in the cramped seminar room.
I sat with Charles briefly on Friday and he said his last-minute inclusion to an already stacked seminar lineup was a favor to Dr. Kinakin. Apparently Kinakin took in Poliquin's Level I Certification Course the month before and was so impressed with his Biosignature Modulation system that he offered to relinquish his own timeslot so Charles could introduce the system to as many fitness professionals as possible.
Biosignature Modulation is a system Poliquin has developed over the course of 20-plus years of taking skinfolds of his clients and comparing the results against their hormone profile. Poliquin says that with Biosignature Modulation, a skilled trainer just needs to measure twelve specific skinfolds to reliably predict what's going on hormonally in a client and make the necessary dietary and exercise recommendations.
Certainly, skeptics may scoff at the validity of this protocol, but apparently Charles is set to teach Biosignature Modulation to a group of 5000 doctors next year. Considering how ostrich-like some doctors are when it comes to accepting anything from the fitness industry (how long did it take the medical community to "declare" creatine monohydrate safe?), I'd say that speaks volumes to its legitimacy.
The 12 Skinfold Sites of Biosignature Modulation and some related info:
Chin and Cheek: The first sites to go down during a diet. These sites aren't linked to any particular hormone imbalance.
Pectoral and Triceps: The androgen sites. High pec readings in men in relation to the triceps can reflect an androgen imbalance. Interestingly, Charles says a female who clocks in at less than 6mm on the triceps site is almost a shoe-in to be on steroids and most likely has to shave twice a day.
Suprailliac and Subscapular: The insulin sites. These sites are related to blood sugar management. High readings here vs. the triceps may reflect poor insulin sensitivity and carb intolerance.
Mid-axillary: This site is correlated to thyroid hormone levels.
Umbilical: The infamous cortisol site. It can be high despite low overall body fat. Charles remarked that cortisol issues are most prevalent among Americans residing in the North Eastern seaboard area.
Knee and Medial Calf: These skinfolds are related to growth hormone. Interestingly, readings on the knee site tend to go up in the third or fourth week of a fat loss diet and then go back down.
Quadriceps and Hamstring: High levels here vs. the triceps are correlated to high estrogen levels.
Charles then shot through a variety of exercise, nutrition, and supplementation prescriptions to help target the hormonal irregularities often associated with a comparatively high skinfold reading in each individual site. Many of the recommendations would be familiar to T-Nation readers, such as omega-3s with every meal to help ameliorate poor insulin sensitivity and 2-10g of glutamine in the morning on an empty stomach to bolster growth hormone output.
Regarding omega-3s, Charles recommends up to 15 grams a day for individuals wishing to lose body fat. He suggests starting with krill oil and rotating sources every ten days from there. Charles also said to stay away from flax seed oil but didn't go into too much detail as to why to avoid it.
That sort of sums up my biggest beef with Charles's Biosignature presentation: he obviously had tons of info to disseminate but had very little time to do so. He must have recognized this as questions started pouring in, to which he had to remind attendees that he had only 90 minutes for his entire presentation, and in the actual Biosignature Modulation certification course it takes eight hours just to teach the thyroid site. But lack of exposition aside, Biosignature Modulation is a fascinating concept and certainly groundbreaking.
But for the actual fitness professionals in attendance, is Biosignature Modulation practical? I guess to the average soccer mom trainer holding a clipboard at Curves, probably not. But for most trainers it's certainly more practical than asking your clients to regularly get a variety of inconvenient and often expensive blood tests. And hey, what self-respecting trainer wouldn't want to have as many effective, non-invasive individual assessment tools as possible in his toolbox?
Poliquin's presentation did go beyond Biosignature Modulation. Some other notes:
• About 80% of disease is treatable if you treat the adrenals and the pancreas. To treat the adrenals, Charles starts with (you guessed it) omega-3 fatty acids as well as an exhaustive fifty day protocol of Yin tonics.
• According to Charles, prehistoric man consumed large amounts of omega-3s by feeding on the omega-3 rich brains of dead animals. Remind your clients of that the next time they complain that they can't take fish oil because of those icky fish burps.
• Apparently, Ireland and Wales boast the most omega-3 deficient citizens, and also the highest rates of alcoholism and depression. Funny, that leprechaun on the box of Lucky Charms always seemed so d**n happy...
• Charles really likes supplemental alpha lipoic acid, but says to be careful when choosing a formula. He says to stick to the r-form and avoid the racemic mixtures; apparently the s-isomer cancels out the benefits of the r-form.
• According to Charles, high fructose corn syrup is so bad it should be illegal. Fructose doesn't raise insulin enough and isn't effectively cleared from the bloodstream. This leads to glycation of the cells, which is basically caramelization from the inside. Charles describes fructose as the guest who doesn't leave the party at 3AM.
• When you're inhaling all those omega-3s, Charles says to make sure to only select manufacturers from Norway or Wales, and to avoid the big box store formulations like the plague. To your body, the PCB, mercury, and cadmium content of many of the cheap fish oils is on par with a Duracell battery suppository.
• From a cortisol perspective, aerobics just plain sucks. Charles states that Diana Schwarzbien, the guru of adrenal disorders, forbids even her morbidly obese clients from performing steady state aerobic work for this reason.
• Canadian dairy has four times the CLA content as American dairy.
• Some poor slob asked Charles what advice he'd have for vegetarians. I can't quite remember exactly what Charles said, but watching his Arizona tan turn a shade of purple was worth the price of admission alone. I was going to follow that up with, "Hey, Mr. Poliquin, I'm a strict vegan and I'm trying to improve my spinning class times, got any suggestions?" but I was well within angry French Canadian striking distance.
• Charles instructs clients wishing to lose fat to only eat a food if it "runs in the field, swims, flies, or is green" for fourteen days. Some attendee then asked, "What about potatoes?" You could literally see Charles holding his breath and counting to ten in German before asking the guy what color he thought potatoes were.
In summary, Poliquin's presentation was extremely interesting and definitely entertaining