Lessons from the ‘Rock Star Trainer’
Last week, I wrote about the fitness lifestyles and physical demands of some of the biggest names in rock music. We are at an interesting time in our history where the top selling and touring acts on the road today feature senior citizens playing up to three hours per night with the strength and stamina of artists in their 20s.
While I wrote about some of the favourite workouts of people like Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart, I didn’t write about nutrition and wanted to expand on its importance this week.
To do that, I contacted Patrick Reilly, an old friend of mine who has made a living as a personal trainer in Hollywood for more than 15 years. Known as the “Rock Star Trainer,” he has worked with members of some of the biggest bands in the world. Living in La La Land means that his primary focus has always been about “looking good” and staying lean. Here is how he teaches his clients to eat for high energy while they burn fat and perform at high levels.
The thing that has always impressed me about Reilly is the way he applies common sense in strategic ways. When he teaches nutrition, there are no miracle pills or powders to consume, no drastic fad diets to follow and no deception that things will be quick, easy and “like magic.”
The basis of his Rock star Nutrition can be divided into three main areas: eating to support metabolism; blood sugar stabilization; and a balanced eating that includes all nutrients.
As we speak, I note that the phrase “supportive nutrition” keeps coming up. This refers to an eating style that supports metabolism — the rate at which your body burns through food to convert it into energy.
Reilly explains this idea by comparing metabolism to a fire. If you’ve ever been camping, you’ll know that regularly placing small pieces of wood onto a fire keeps it burning hot. If you place a big log on the fire, you’ll smother it and the fire burns low while the log is only partially burnt (like a big meal). If you wait too long between “feeding” the fire, you’re in danger of the fire going out completely.
Using this analogy, Reilly urges his clients to consume five small meals per day to keep their metabolism running high.
The second part of the Rock star Nutrition philosophy is to eat in ways that stabilize blood sugar. Reilly advises that you do this by consuming a mix of lean protein and complex carbohydrates each time you eat. He is clear that one need not fear “carbs” and urges people to eat more complex, less refined, less processed varieties, such as whole vegetables and fruits, whole grains, brown rice, steel cut oats and potatoes.
While more processed carbohydrates such as white flour, sugary snacks and soft drinks will cause massive blood sugar spikes, eating complex carbs along with protein-rich foods will help to promote stable blood sugar levels. When this happens, an environment is created that enhances the body’s ability to use stored fat for fuel as opposed to simply using glucose (sugar) for energy.
Finally, Reilly teaches the importance of eating a balance of all nutrients — protein, carbohydrates and fats. The exception is when a client is attempting to lose body fat as their primary goal. After several weeks of learning how to eat “supportively,” Reilly will have his clients manipulate their carbohydrate intake, by removing all starchy foods for up to three days per week, for a maximum of four weeks at a time. The result is that stored body fat will become more available to be burned as fuel along when doing appropriate fat burning workouts and even at rest.
He has found, however, that going beyond four weeks will result in metabolic slowdown and increased fat storage.
Ideally, this fat burning “trick” will be used four times per year with several weeks of supportive nutrition leading up to the month of carbohydrate manipulation.