The Trade-Off of Training in Smoke

Sadly, for those of you living in NorCal with me, having to deal with smoke in the air (at pretty high AQI levels at times, and moderate levels most of the time) has become an annual event. At certain levels, breathing in this smoke is most likely bad for you, especially when the exposure is prolonged. I'm not sure we'll know the effects until several years (decades?) down the line, though. So for now, we're left to be our own risk managers.

There's pretty strong evidence that exercise is good for you and has many health benefits. I feel pretty safe making this claim. We also know that inhaling smoke is bad (how bad, as already mentioned, is yet to be determined). So what to do, if like in my case, your gym has some exposure to smoke? I train in my garage 99% of the time, so I can limit smoke somewhat by keeping the doors closed, but I know it's in there since nothing is airtight. I also have an air filter in the garage, too, which helps. But I can't say for certain that there's no smoke in my garage gym and I operate under the assumption that there is smoke in there.

This is where trade-offs and personal preferences come into play. I look at the AQI reading before I train every day when we're in fire season. For me, if it's above 150 (red on Purple Air), I still might be game if I keep my workout brief. Above 200 and I'll pass. But that's just me. 

I think the health benefits that come from exercise outweigh any potential costs related to my brief exposure to smoke in the air (I keep my total time in the garage to under 30 minutes on AQI days between 150 and 200). And let's not forget, most of the warnings related to AQI center around exposure for 24-hour periods. I'm nowhere near that. Let's also not forget that the human body has many systems in place to aid in filtering out toxins (not just inhaled smoke, by the way). Lung issues, by and large, come from high, chronic exposure to lung irritants. The exposure is so great that it overwhelms the body's natural filtering systems. I'd be willing to bet that very few people get lung cancer from smoking a cigar once a year (a perfect example of the dose-response effect).

This stuff is all highly subjective. We have data (the AQI reading). But how we decide our course of action related to that data is highly variable, depending on the risk tolerance of each individual, as well as any risk factors they may have. If you're in a sensitive group (very young, very old, breathing issues), I would suspect (and hope) you'll be a little more cautious in your approach.

There's not a universally correct answer to this question around training in smoky skies. Just the correct answer for you.

Don't be a Sith

Will follow up with something a little more substantive on trade-offs (and not thinking in absolute terms) in my next entry. It's also very relevant for those of us living in NorCal these days.

But for now, let's just listen to Obi Wan.

Think Trade-Off & Dose-Response

This is going to be a short one because this is a big topic and this initial entry is a jumping-off point for later, more in-depth entries.

Many of life's choices are best viewed in terms of trade-offs and dose-response. There are certainly times for thinking in absolutes. The most generic, overused example, Hitler, is a case where absolutist thinking was appropriate in assessing his actions. No amount of thinking in trade-offs could excuse the genocide he was committing. Enough on Hitler, though. I just wanted to acknowledge that there are times when thinking in absolutes is required. 

Most of the time, though, especially in matters less weighty, like what to eat, what exercise program to do, whether to drive through town or to take the highway, you'll be better off thinking about trade-offs between options or what kind of response you'll get from the dose you're choosing.

You should be immediately skeptical of anyone who says that there's only one way to get healthy/fit, to eat well, etc. The truth is, there are many ways to accomplish many different things in life. The right choices often involve a complex mix of evidence, personal preferences, and best guesses. 

We'll dive deep into one example of trade-offs in my next entry.

Evidence Uncovers Options; Personal Preference Leads to Choices

A couple of years back, Stronger by Science did an exhaustive review of much of the literature out there regarding strength programs (talking strictly about force production here). Basically, they did a study of studies. Specifically, they were looking at set and rep ranges that led to strength gains. What they found is not that surprising if you've been coaching for a while, or if you've been part of the iron game for a while.

They found that folks can get strong across a number of rep ranges, even very high ones (20+). But they found the optimal set and rep range was 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps. This is pretty much a standard recommendation and has been done for as long as strength training has been around. 

The reason for the conclusion was twofold, and this is the key point of the entry. The first reason was that that rep range, and total volume, is a nice middle point between lower rep work (think 1-2 reps--primarily a neurological adaptation) and medium rep work (think 8-12 reps--primarily a muscular adaptation and a classic bodybuilding rep range). This comports well with what science tells us about rep ranges and is less surprising. But the second point was even more telling. They found that compliance was highest when folks do 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps. They postulated that this rep range wasn't too taxing neurologically or exhausting muscularly. It was a perfect middle ground and enabled folks to remain on this type of program longer.

I personally recommend 3-6 sets of 3-6 reps for most people when it comes to strength training as the base. Sets of 3 are too valuable to not include in your training. We can deviate from those rep ranges during certain phases for certain reasons, but this should be the go-to for most of your strength work (again, talking strictly about force production; many people throw around the term strength and sometimes mean something else).

The more general point here is that evidence will often point to many different options. But the deciding factor is almost always personal preference. For example, I know a few people who train sets of 10 throughout most of the year, and then throw in one or two strength cycles where they try and build to a max at the end of the cycle. And they make great progress year over year.

The most important factor here is choosing the rep range, and more generally, the training program, that will yield the most consistency. We all want to do the things we like. So if you can match an evidence-based protocol with a version that you really like (your personal preference), you're more likely to comply and stay consistent. The more consistent you are, the more training sessions you'll get in, which is where the magic happens.

And that magic will pay off in the long run. Choose wisely, trust the process, and stay consistent. It's not rocket science.

Another Nietzsche Quote

"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Mix in this group-style madness with social media and you have the potential for disaster. The storming of the Capitol would be an obvious example of this type of situation. It definitely won't be the last time something like that happens. If you haven't seen The Social Dilemma yet, I highly recommend it.

Djokovic Has a Chance to Make History Twice

The US Open starts up tomorrow. The main storyline is Novak Djokovic, the greatest of all time. I make this claim and provide my argument for it here.

He's trying to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win a calendar-year grand slam. In the history of the game, only two men (Don Budge and Rod Laver) and only three women (Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, and Steffi Graf) have pulled this feat off, so it's extremely rare, to put it mildly.

But besides the calendar year grand slam, he's also trying to win his 21st grand slam. No other man in the history of the game has won that many. He's currently tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 grand slams.

So a chance to set two historical marks. There's a ton of pressure on him and media scrutiny will be intense. Should be exciting!

Practice Mindset

There have countless books and articles written about the growth mindset. Carol Dweck wrote a nice article about it back in 2016, but if you just google growth mindset, you'll find plenty of resources. To be sure, having a growth mindset is a good thing.

But I'd like to encourage folks to adopt a practice mindset. One of the toughest hurdles for many folks to get over when they're first starting a strength-and-conditioning program occurs after the first 1-2 months. They tend to be very enthusiastic about training when they're first starting out. Everything is so new and fun to learn, and with consistency, progress can often come quickly (depending on where we're starting from). But after the easy gains come and go and motivation starts to wear off, it can be a real challenge to get to the gym. While there can be many reasons for this, one of the most common ones is to be outcome-focused.

Now don't get me wrong. Having goals can be helpful, and in order to track where we are relative to our goals, we need to be aware of the outcome. But for things like long-term health and fitness, focusing too much on outcomes can quickly backfire. That's why it's much better--as early as possible--to develop a practice mindset. Commit to the process and the practice of movement and good things will happen. Don't worry about numbers in the short term, worry about getting reps in. Worry about practicing movement. Make consistency a habit.

After those initial gains, progress isn't a straight linear path. It zigs and zags. It's kind of like the stock market. If you check prices daily, you're bound to be in for a wild and often stressful ride. Much better to check in on your portfolio once a month (yes, this assumes a long-term buy-and-hold strategy, which is my bias).

Make movement the motivation. I have to credit Mark Bell with the following quote:

"You don't need to get motivated to move. You need to move to get motivated."

Precisely.