Monthly Archives: August 2014

The importance of IQ for personal training and online coaching

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In the current post, I will discuss the relative importance of IQ for things such as personal traning and online coaching, both more generally and in relation to myself as primarily an online coach.

To begin with, what is IQ? Here is for example an often-cited definition which is suggested by Linda Gottfredson in her extensive article ‘Why G matter’s’ (1997):

Intelligence is a very general mental capacity which, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely a book learning, a narrow academic skill or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings – ‘catching on’, ‘making sense’ of a thing, or ‘figuring out’ what to do.

IQ is measured by professional psychologists through a number of standardized tests, such as WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and Raven’s Progressive Matrices. The tests are similar in many ways, hence measure the same kind of cognitive abilities, but also slightly different in certain respects. Overall, they are nevertheless largely intercorrelated.

IQ is not a ‘thing’ – it does not ‘exist’ any general (g) factor of intelligence in the concrete sense – but rather a phenomenon that can predict many outcomes which are quite important in people’s lives, such as job and academic performance, and level of income. IQ, or rather some dimensions of it, is partly malleable but the trait in an overall sense is also rather stable, and the so called g factor has a heritability of about 0.6-0.7 according to experts such as Thomas Bouchard, N.J. Mackintosh and Robert Plomin. That is, IQ or general intelligence is to 60-70% inherited.

What about IQ and personal training? All personal trainers who have some kind of certificate must have some degree of theoretical knowledge. In fact, some PT’s have a lot of it, and have spent countless of hours at college or university in order to complete extensive education programs. So you cannot be completely dumb if you are a professional PT. However, many PTs – especially if they are only gym instructors – are far fram theoretically proficient, and the more practical knowledge might also be flawed regardless of how much the person in question knows about for instance strength training.

There are different angles that need to be considered but I think that first of all one has to realize that after a certain IQ threshold has been surpassed, other factors, such as dedication, work ethic, personality, personal chemistry between PT and client, pedagogic skills, and experience are of much more importance. Everyone would prefer a PT with an impressive physique, tons of experience, and who is dedicated to his or hers job than an intellectual person with more theoretical knowledge but who largely lacks the other parts.

Still, it is always better to have a higher IQ than a lower IQ. A PT who has all of the above-mentioned things with a rather high IQ is better than a PT who also has all of these things but with a lower IQ. It is not just about details such as spelling correctly, but the ability to learn by yourself and to learn more thorougly with regard to research. The pace of reading and writing can also be important and is of particular significance with regard to online coaching, which is mostly a verbal activity.

I think that this is one of my strongest sides, both regarding the understanding of research and the actual pace of reading and writing in general. No wonder why some PTs charge hundreds of euros for a single diet program if they can only create one or two per week. If you have a verbal IQ (see WAIS below) of 135 – which only about two per cent of a population within the normal distrubution have – then you can work at a higher rate, charge much less, and probably also offer more quality in terms of content. Of course, it is always a time factor involved, and for some online coaching is only a small share of a total occupation, but it still matters. To even have a blog of some degree of quality is partly related to one’s level of especially verbal IQ.

To summarize, IQ is important. Much less so when it comes to interpersonal communication in real life situations, such as in the gym, and much more so with regard to online communication and the ability to create material of high quality in short time.

I detta inlägg kommer jag att diskutera betydelsen av IQ i förhållande till personlig träning och online coaching, både mer generellt och med koppling till mig själv som i första hand online coach.

Vad är då IQ till att börja med? Enligt till exempel Linda Gottfredson (1997) kan IQ förstås som en generell mental kapacitet som handlar om att lösa problem, tänka abstrakt, förstå komplexa företeelser och helt enkelt begripa sig på en mängd olika saker som sker i vår omgivning. Det är någonting mer än bara en begränsad akademisk färdighet.

IQ mäts av professionella psykologer genom ett antal standardiserade tester, som WAIS och Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Testen är lika och mäter ofta samma slags kognitiva förmågor, men det finns skillnader i vissa avseenden. Överlag är de dock mycket interkorrelerade, det vill säga överensstämmer i hög grad med varandra i fråga om vad de mäter.

IQ är ingen “sak” – det “existerar” ingen generell faktor för intelligens i den konkreta meningen – utan snarast ett underliggande fenomen som kan förutsäga en mängd saker som är viktiga i människors liv, till exempel förmåga att prestera i arbetslivet och akademiskt, samt inkomstnivåer. IQ, eller snarare vissa delar av det, är delvis formbart men är överlag ganska stabilt och den så kallade g-faktorn är till 60-70% medfödd enligt experter som Thomas Bouchard, N.J. Mackintosh och Robert Plomin.

Hur viktigt är då IQ för personlig träning? Alla personliga tränare som har någon typ av certifikat måste följaktligen ha något slags teoretisk kunskap. Faktum är att vissa PT har en massa sådan, och har tillbringat mängder av tid på universitet eller högskola för att kunna fullfölja och slutföra omfattande utbildningar. Så man kan inte vara helt dum om man är PT. Dock är det så att många PT – särskilt de som enbart är simpla gyminstruktörer – är långtifrån teoretiskt skickliga, och den mer praktiska kunskapen kan också vara bristfällig oavsett hur pass mycket personen i fråga vet om till exempel styrketräning.

Det finns många perspektiv att beakta, men jag tror att det är viktigt att inse att efter att ett visst tröskelvärde för IQ har överskridits så är andra faktorer som exempelvis hängivenhet, arbetsmoral, personlighet, personkemi mellan PT och klient, pedagogiska färdigheter och erfarenhet mycket viktigare. Nästan alla borde rimligtvis föredra en PT med en imponerande fysik, massor av erfarenhet, och som är dedicerad i sitt arbete, än någon som är intellektuell och har stort teoretiskt kunnande men som i stor utsträckning saknar de andra delarna.

I alla händelser är det alltid bättre att ha högre än lägre IQ. En person som har alla de ovannämnda sakerna och en hög IQ är att föredra framför någon som också har dessa saker men en längre IQ. Det handlar inte bara om detaljer som att stava korrekt utan även om att ha förmåga att lära sig på egen hand och på en djupare nivå när det gäller forskning. Skriv- och läshastigheten kan också vara av vikt, inte minst beträffande online coaching, vilket till största del är en verbal aktivitet.

Detta är också en av mina starkaste sidor. Det är inte konstigt att vissa PT tar tusentals kronor i betalt för ett enda kost- eller träningsprogram när de bara hinner med ett eller två per vecka. Om man däremot har en verbal IQ på 135 (se den WAIS-relaterade bilden ovan) – vilket bara ungefär två procent av en vanlig population har – kan man arbeta snabbare, ta mindre betalt, och förmodligen också erbjuda mer kvalitet i fråga om själva innehållet. Självklart är tidsfaktorn central, och för vissa PT är online coaching bara en liten del av en helhet, men likväl har detta betydelse.

För att sammanfatta, IQ är viktigt. I mindre grad när det gäller interpersonell kommunikation i till exempel gymmet, och i högre grad när det gäller kommunikation på internet och förmågan att kunna skapa högkvalitativt material på kort tid.

 

How can your body fat percentage decrease when you consume 5000 calories per day?

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I will admit that this post has a somewhat sensational angle if one looks at the headline. But it is not. However, I intend to explain a number of things regarding what is sometimes called food manipulation.

People can use many strategies – or ‘strategies’, which means things that are not really planned but still happen – when it comes to nutrition. Even though I should not, I tend to binge eat when I am on holidays, but I have promised myself not to let it go too far. There are still some limits, even though they are of another kind than usual.

Anyway, before I went to Portugal/Morocco I had a cold and consequently could not exercise, and hence I saw it as a chance to cut calories and carbohydrates and lose some fat weight. I was really ’empty’ when I arrived in Lisbon. But even at the first night out of seven I started to binge eat, devouring almost a whole can of hazelnut cream, which is one of the most unhealthy foodstuffs you can eat since it contains a massive amount of calories and sugar. It will probably get you some headache and make you thirsty before you even have finished it.

The day after I ate an impressive amount of calories at McDonald’s, and continued with eating a couple of snickers or something similar almost every day of the rest of the trip. I ended the whole thing with consuming 500 grams of Kit Kat at the airport.

Still I looked great – perhaps even slightly better than before I left – and as far as simple mathematics goes, I did of course also decrease my overall percentage of body fat. How is that so? Well, if one’s glycogen levels are low and one eats a lot of sugar/carbohydrates and foodstuffs overall, then one: 1) Starts to fill up the glycogen levels which make the muscles look more swelling (in a good sense), and 2) One increases body weight without gaining body fat, which thus leads to lower levels of body fat, percentage-wise. At a certain point, the massive calorie surplus will lead to a increase of body fat, but not in the initial phase, let’s say for the first three or four days – depending on a number of variables such as body weight in relation to muscular development and, of course, the more exact amount of calories and carbohydrates.

Plus – and here is a perhaps less obvious point – if one does long and fast walks in excessive heat, as I did in Morocco, the metabolism will ‘kick start’ and one will get a very different caloric equilibrium than just before. The body has to do that in order to handle the new conditions, which are far more calories than in the earlier phase, and due to this particular environment and behavioral-physiological pattern.

This will probably also last for a couple of days when you are back to a regular fitness lifestyle with a more balanced amount of calories (less carbohydrates/sugar, no trans fats, and more proteins) and you will thus likely lose some more weight during the short initial period after getting back to normal.

In fine, this is a good example of how your body make adjustments in relation to changed nutritional patterns and other conditions. That kind of dynamics will definitely not lead to good results in the long run, but if you know what you are up to, then you can use your chosen ‘strategy’ – such as to eat excessive amounts of calories – for some relative good in the short term.

Levels of obesity in Morocco, the US and Japan – why the palpable differences?

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I have, in conjunction with other expositions, touched on the subject of obesity. After my trip to Morocco, however, I felt that I wanted to add a couple of things in this respect and therefore I now write something very overall about the situation for Moroccans, although with a comparative outlook. Once again the US comes into the spotlight.

Here are some key facts from WHO about obesity in the world:

Worldwide obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.

35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. 65% of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. More than 40 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2012. Obesity is preventable.

With regard to Morocco (and Tunisia), women tend to be much more obese, on average, than men, which this study shows:

Overall levels of obesity, identified by body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2, were 12.2% in Morocco and 14.4% in Tunisia. Obesity is significantly higher among women than among men in both countries (22.7% vs. 6.7% in Tunisia and 18% vs. 5.7% in Morocco) and prevalence among women has tripled over the past 20 y. Half of all women are overweight or obese (BMI > 25) with 50.9% in Tunisia and 51.3% in Morocco. Overweight increases with age and seems to take hold in adolescence, particularly among girls. In Tunisia, 9.1% of adolescent girls are at risk for being overweight (BMI/age ≥ 85th percentile). Prevalence of overweight and obesity are greater for women in urban areas and with lower education levels. Obese women in both countries take in significantly more calories and macronutrients than normal-weight women.

And:

Figure 1 shows chronic energy deficiency (undernutrition) and obesity among women (age range 15 to 49 y) in NA, compared to sub-Saharan African and Latin American countries. Obesity is significantly higher than undernutrition in NA countries. Undernutrition (BMI < 18.5) is still high in the sub-Saharan countries where famine and food security are important factors. In Latin American countries, undernutrition and obesity coexist; obesity is less prevalent than in NA (9.4% in Peru, 8% in Guatemala, 9.2% in Colombia and 7.6% in Bolivia).

An important insight is to realize that undernutrition may co-exist with obesity in middle-income countries such as Morocco and many Latin American countries. A quite large share of their respective populations is still absolutely poor, but there are also parallel processes of emerging and growing middle classes – in conjunction with patterns of increased globalization and thus more import and diffusion of particular products – and consequently also greater access to relatively cheap food and drinks, especially carb- and fat-loaded foodstuffs. Hence, obesity goes hand i hand with some degree of national development.

Additionally, there are general national food-cultural dimensions to consider. For instance, the US has an obesity level of around 30% whereas Japan – another rich core country – account for only 3,5%. A massive difference indeed.

National food culture – even in the broader sense – alone cannot account for the differences between countries with similar levels of development, as measured by for instance HDI, but seems to explain at least a relatively large part in that respect. One can perhaps stress that many Moroccans, Latin Americans and Americans have no clear incentives to avoid obesity – even though there is an explicit slim-body ideal with regard to celebrities – whereas Japanese people in general are affected by both government policies and particular collectivistic ideals.

I know too little about Morroco, but the US is unhesitatingly quite individualistic and at the same time vastly heterogenous in terms of levels of income and in some senses even more so in terms of lifestyle. A large share of the middle classes and lower-income classes consume a lot of junk food, partly because of easy access to it, but also due to that a large share of other people within the same broad strata is also fat. To look more like an actor, actress or singer thus becomes something beyond reach, not even relevant to consider. Average Fat Joe will still marry Average Fat Jane (and they may live happily with their cellulitis ever after). Thus, the ‘rational’ choice for many individuals is to continue to eat crap excessively. That is partly how a vicious circle of this sort is created and entrenched.

Furthermore, of course one finds healthier nutritional patterns in Japan, with lesser amounts of calories within average people’s diets, compared to the US (and large parts of the Western civilization overall, for that matter). Rice thus beats French fries.

Lisbon and Marrakesh

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At this point, I have visited close to 40 countries – counting both short stays and borderline cases such as Hong Kong and Macau – in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. This is a life project without limits, in the sense that there are always new places to pay a visit to, and hence the whole thing calls for some realistic milestones.

For instance, I strive to have set my feet on all continents of the world – not counting Antarctica and Central America – before the next year is over. I will probably only go to Ecuador with regard to my first ever visit in South America, but nothing is yet decided in that respect.

With that said, I just recently went to the capital of Portugal and the city of Marrakesh in Morocco. It was a short trip, lasting only for about a week. I was in Lisbon for less than a day and tried to see as much as possible during the evening – from about 6 PM until 1 AM – and then got up early and did some sightseeing, particularly the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and its vicinity, the day after.

It was nice, but my favorite place was actually a mojito bar not very far from Rossio square, where the guest house that I crashed at is located. I can only recall that I have drank a better mojito at Ocean Drive in Miami Beach.

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That was in fact the only alcohol which I consumed during the entire trip. At an earlier stage of planning, I considered the idea of visit some night clubs in Marrakech, such as Pacha, but for several reasons I chose not to. Partly because I was alone, and partly due to other reasons.

So basically I got up early every morning, around 8, ate my carb-loaded breakfast at my five-star riad in the heart of the city’s medina – located in a narrow and shady alleyway – and went from the medina to Gueliz and back (or from the medina to some particular monument, such as the Kasbah mosque), and in one case to the Cascades D’Ouzoud waterfalls, about a two-hours drive from Marrakech, and then back in the evening.

Speaking of evenings, I went to the market square Jemaa el-Fnaa for three or four times, where I, for instance, drank freshly squeezed oranges. A quite vibrant place indeed, although a bit too kitsch-esque for my taste. I think that the medina in general is more interesting than this particular place, even though I find the hammam’s, such as De la Rose, a bit overrated.

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Lastly, what about body and brains? I have studied some Korean but not for many hours, and I have done some damage control cardio in order to decrease the amount of body fat that I will increase due to quite massive amounts of overall calorie surplus. Actually, I even re-elaborated my spacious room into a simple ‘gym’ and did some light exercises for the entire body, split up into three or four sessions. Albeit the room was largely isolated with regard to the outdoor heat, the powerful fan was very useful in that respect.

But to travel in the proper sense – not just visiting shopping malls and attending tourist attractions and sights – is also to transcend our current ideal, which of course has its limitations. It is to expand one’s inner mental room, and to absorb entirely new impressions. At least partly, I think that Marrakesh is a quite fruitful place in that sense, since it remains to some extent traditional.

And now I am back.

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The outer comes from within

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What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

– Plutarch

 

This quote is both striking and relevant, since it grasps one significant aspect of the body and brains ideal. That is, it reverses the idea that fitness is, at least primarily, related to something outward, when it is in fact always linked to and emerges from something internal, whether you call that sort of phenomenon psychological or moral.

It is not as much about intelligence as it is about a certain individual focus, mentality and attitude. Because it is not some outer force that makes people who are serious with regard to fitness avoid junk food and go to the gym five-six times a week, but an inner character and motivation. Of course, this individual dimension may partly or even largely be related to outer expectations and social influences, but the conduct itself does always have an internal base. Regardless of people have or have not a ‘free will’ in a philosophical and/or scientific sense, it is most often you who decide whether you should eat at McDonald’s and skip an exercise or not.

The thing is that almost the same goes for intellectual conduct. In order to for instance read more advanced literature, particularly in larger quantities, one has to stay focused, avoid distractions and make the right choices.

Science about body and brains

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Of major significance for a blog with the outspoken focus, are of course studies of different kinds which treat the interrelationships between physical exercise, particularly strength training, and cognitive functioning. The now largely outdated cliché that body and brains should be separated with the conjunction or, instead of  and, is questioned by a growing number of studies, and newspapers and websites do sometimes summarize the findings, which is the case in for example this Forbes article, as well as this article and this article.

In the last-mentioned report, we can read for instance the following:

Can the same be true for adults of all ages? According to a recent study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress and reported in the Wall Street Journal, it can.

This small study involved overweight, sedentary adults.  They first underwent a series of assessments and then completed twice-weekly exercise sessions.  These sessions involved both cardiovascular exercise (biking) and weight training, lasting for four months.

The fitness gains for the group were clear, with reduced waist circumference and lower body weight.  Researchers reported the more surprising result:  “significantly and clinically” improved functioning on tests of mental acuity.

Like in most science, results are often incomplete, tentative and/or more or less context-dependent, which is particularly the case with correlation studies, especially if the research in question has been executed on rats. Still there are unhesitatingly a growing number of relevant studies which support the argument that physical exercise is good for cognition and even the more specific dimension generally known as cognitive ability.