Food creator recipe has exploded in popularity on TikTok. The dish, which features white beans, chickpeas, and peppers, has racked up 12.5 million views on the social network so far and inspired a slew of spin-off recipes. I imagine all of the fanfare for this dish is due to the fact that it’s packed with tons of nutrients, is aesthetically pleasing, and is a nice change from your typical leafy green salad.

Even though beans are trending, a 2021 study published in concluded that most Americans aren’t even getting close to theÌęrecommended amount.ÌęThe latest , which are from an advisory committee to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), recommend that people eat at least 2.5 cups of beans and lentils per week. That’s a big increase from the current of legumes per week.

Beans, which are full of , aren’t just a good base for a salad—they may give you an athletic edge. They’re also easy to incorporate into your diet.

What’s Behind the Push to Eat More Beans?

“Beans are one of the healthiest foods to consume,” says , a certified sport specialist in dietetics at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“They’re nutrient powerhouses, offering protein, iron, and B vitamins, all while being low in fat and highly sustainable to produce,” says , co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy, a practice that offers nutritional guidance for people with and without underlying health conditions.

Beans Are High in Protein

The small legumes are a significant source of plant-based protein, making them a good option for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone looking to lower their meat consumption, says Vavrek.

“Beans are lower in fat than red meat (yes, beans contain a very small amount of fat), and they are a good source of fiber,” says , a registered dietician at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates. So, consistentlyÌęswapping a cut of steak for a cup of beans may .

They Help Boost Energy and Lower Disease Risk

The complex carbohydrates in beans are an excellent source of energy, says , an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University. Complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes and corn take longer to digest and provide more energy for a longer duration than simple carbohydrates such as white pasta or white bread. They also contain more nutrients, includingÌęfiber and vitamin B, than simple carbs.

A growing body of research links eating more legumes with better health, including a lowered risk of developing chronic diseases such as . One scientific review published in the journal in 2023 found that people who consistently included beans in their diets had a lower risk of death from any cause.

Still, beans aren’t a staple food in most American diets. “Beans really haven’t gotten the love they deserve,” says , a registered dietician and author of the healthy-living guide titled . Cording says the reason isn’t entirely clear, but it’s possible that Americans have simply gotten used to thinking of animal sources for protein. “Also, I find that often people don’t know what to do with them,” she says.

How Beans Can Optimize Athletic Performance

“Beans are high in carbohydrates, and, as we know, athletes need carbohydrates to help fuel performance,” Vavrek says. That, combined with their protein levels, “make them an excellent choice for fueling recovery,” Keatley says.

Keatley says that beans’ high-fiber content also helps regulate blood sugar to deliver consistent, sustained energy while you train. That fiber content also supports gut health and digestion, which makes it easier for your body to absorb nutrients, Metzger adds. It also may help your body recover after workouts, she says.

Beans even contain electrolytes like potassium, which are often found in sports drinks and are essential for hydration, muscle function, and preventing cramps, Young says.

Beans May Enhance Agility and Speed

There isn’t a lot of research directly looking at the impact of legumes on athletic performance, but there is some.

A small, randomized, double-blind study published in the journal in 2020 had eight soccer players either eat a lentil-based nutrition bar or a carbohydrate-based bar two hours before a simulated soccer match. The participants were given an agility test of paced jogging, running, walking, and sprinting, along with three-minute intervals of soccer agility skills. Study participants who had the lentil-based bar performed better on the agility test and had a lower carbohydrate oxidation rate (the speed at which the body breaks down carbs for energy) during the match. As a result, the researchers concluded that the lentil-based bar provided an improvement in agility, running, and jumping high later in the game.

A small 2020 study published in divided 19 soccer players, 12 women and 7 men, into two groups. The first group ate a pulse-based diet (including beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.), and the second group consumed their regular diet for four weeks. The researchers found that only the female participants, who made up the majority of the study participants, reduced their total cholesterol levels on the pulse-based diets and also increased their levels of high-density lipoproteins, which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the researchers didn’t conclude that the beans enhanced athletic performance—only that they supported other factors that contributed to good health.

Is It a Good Idea to Eat Beans Before a Workout?

Cording stresses that everyone’s body processes beans differently, but in general, she doesn’t recommend having a hefty serving of beans before a workout. “That’s going to be really uncomfortable because of the impact it can have on digestion,” she says. The high fiber content can lead to bloating or gas, which could interfere with performance.

Because of this, Keatley suggests eating beans at least 12 to 24 hours before a workout and consistently sprinkling them throughout your diet, focusing on smaller servings at each sitting versus larger ones to minimize side effects. “Incorporating them regularly into meals throughout training is more effective than relying on a one-off ‘bean boost,’” he says. Another reason to focus on consistency, according to Young: “Regularly including beans in your diet helps your body adapt to digesting them efficiently.” Making sure the beans are thoroughly cooked can also make them easier to digest.

If you’re concerned about timing beans around your performance or aren’t sure how you’ll react to them, Cording says it’s better to have them after your workout and gauge how you feel from there.

How to Get More Beans in Your Diet

If you’re not currently a bean eater, Cording suggests starting slow. Vavrek recommends drinking plenty of water to help move legumes through your digestive system and prevent constipation. Metzger also suggests soaking beans overnight in cool water, which removes some of the gas-producing sugars.

Here are some easy ways to eat more beans, according to Metzger:

• Add chickpeas to a saladÌęor soup, or make a chili
• Eat black beans with rice or as a side dish
• SautĂ© white beans with garlic and olive oil
• Snack on roasted soybeans
• Dip pita chips or vegetables in hummus
• Toss lima beans into your salad or create a succotash (a combo of corn and lima beans)

You can even put beans in smoothies, Cording says. “The key is to integrate them consistently across meals, allowing their benefits to support overall training and performance,” Keatley says.

Want more ofÌęșÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű’s Health stories?Ìę.

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°żłÜłÙČőŸ±»ć±đ’s Trail Magic hiking columnist Grayson Haver Currin is attempting to bag the triple crown of hiking. He’s already thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail, with one more to go: the Continental Divide Trail. He’ll share notes from the field as he walks with his wife for the rest of the year. Tune in on to follow his journey.

In 30 days, I have climbed nearly 130,000 feet. If I were in Manhattan, rather than heading south through Montana and Idaho along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), I could have easily done the same thing just by running up and down the stairs at the Empire State Building, twice a day for the same time period.

Some of this gain has been totally unremarkable. I’ve picked up 100 feet here, 200 there on spans of the CDT that have mostly felt flat. But some of these ascents during my first 700 miles along my thru-hike have been spectacular, not only for their steepness but the beauty both at the peak and along the route to reach it. There was the Triple Divide Pass, for instance, near where the waters of North America split for the Atlantic, Pacific, or Arctic ocean, a hydrological oddity like few others. Or there was the panoramic push along switchbacks above Storm Lake to Goat Flats, a sweeping and windswept saddle speckled by larches, high in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. It felt like another world. Climbing, at least as I see it, is the psychedelic of hiking, a gateway to a dimension you previously couldn’t imagine.

But I know that climbing can be daunting, too, taxing not only for your legs and lungs but also the brain. “How far and how long,” hikers often wonder on the uphill, “can life go on like this?” I’ve been there, of course; these days, as we continue toward Mexico mile by mile, I ask myself this at least once a day. In five years of thru-hiking, however, I’ve developed some strategies—some mental and others physical, some predictable and others zany—to help myself more efficiently hike uphill.

Remember: the more you do it, the better you get. The better you get, the easier the views from the top come.

Beginner-Friendly Tips for Hiking Uphill

1. Churn your feet to optimize your inertia.

I was an awful high-school football player, too small and soft for my obligatory position on the offensive line and too slow for anything else. But I internalized at least one invaluable lesson from those days of trying (and largely failing) to open holes for running backs: Keep your feet moving, so that you remain more reactive and don’t waste inertia energy. That’s how I climb, too, with my legs in constant motion, as if pushing the pedals of an imaginary bicycle. When going uphill, it’s all too tempting to treat each step like a single act, sinking so deep into each bend of the knee that it feels like you’re about to stop with each step. Fatigue makes this more enticing as you ascend, but avoid it. Spring into shorter steps, almost as if you’re (slowly) about to leap into the next one. This keeps the necessary muscles ready and engaged, glutes to toes, and you won’t waste momentum. Remember this when it comes to climbing strides: Short and steady, not long and labored.

2. Don’t forget your arms; use your trekking poles to your advantage.

As you climb, your legs may burn, cramp, or generally ache. Why not help them? While your shoulders may be supporting your backpack, the rest of your arms are free to propel you. All too often, I see people bent over their hiking poles as they climb, as if they’re leaning on the frames of a walker in a retirement facility. Get at least one of those poles behind you, and push forward with it on every step. Think of it as a bonus thruster, able to alleviate at least a bit of your struggle. (Speaking of which, I’ve been loving these new . They’re super strong relative to their weight, and not flimsy like many of their carbon fiber brethren.) And if you’re foregoing poles, swing your arms forward with your steps, almost as if you’re lunging for the peak. Will you look goofy, as if you’re marching up a mountain in military fashion? Totally. Will it help? Probably.

3. Microdose your breaks and keep your backpack on.

On a recent ascent so extended it felt as if I were walking up a broken escalator to nowhere, I spotted a fellow hiker at the end of a switchback having a wrestling match with his backpack. He’d thrown it down to take a break, then collapsed in the dirt beside it for an extended spell. Then, he struggled to start again. Don’t do that. Take smaller breaks more often, and please leave your pack on. Lean on your hiking poles or rest with your pack against a tree long enough to catch your breath and for the sweat to slow just a little (maybe a minute), then proceed. A good way to time this? Put on a favorite album of four-minute songs; pause for a microbreak every two tracks, and begin again when the chorus of the third hits.

4. Skip the excess water; filter as you go.

How many times have I seen a hapless day hiker plodding up the side of a mountain sporting a backpack stuffed with two (very full) one-liter Nalgenes? Enough that I feel compelled to mention it here. That, after all, is more than five pounds of stuff—liquid and bottle included. Most climbs will have at least one water source, clearly delineated in mobile apps, digital maps, or online trip reports. Use it. Leave the extra Nalgene in your car, and climb with the indomitable Sawyer Squeeze, a two-ounce tube that filters water that might not even look clean. (This frees up space in your pack for electrolyte powder, snacks, layers, and other things, too.)

5. Fuel up along the way.

Snack as you climb, and enjoy some sugar as you do. Is it the vanity of fitness that causes folks to forego food as they ascend, convinced that, if they wait until the summit before cracking open those gummy bears, they’ll arrive with perfect abs or something? Is it the promise of a good-old gorge at the end of a long day outside? I don’t know, really, but give your engine the calories it needs before you bonk. Think: simple sugars your body craves. Jellybeans, pineapple rings, gummy bears, and caffeinated packets of Gu are some of my favorites. Bottom line? Eat enough to burn as you churn your way up the hill.

6. Move from target landmark to target landmark.

I learned to run well from a long-distance cyclist who once offered this perfect insight during my early days of sprinting hills: As you hit the hill’s base, pick a landmark a short distance up—say, a stump, or a crack in the asphalt—and power toward it. Just before you reach it, pick another landmark and repeat. Do this long enough, and you’ll be speeding off the crest just as this game gets fun. I still run this way, and I’ve found it to be the ideal hiking trick, like a solution to Zeno’s dichotomy paradox that actually gets you where you want to be, which is the downhill.

7. Engage your mind to hike uphill.

As you climb, the trail will doubtlessly bend and dip as you tackle the terrain. But your task essentially remains linear, as you increase your elevation over a set distance. I have long tricked my brain into thinking otherwise with a strategy that I recognize may make me sound mental: I count out of order. Quietly in my head or just under my breath, I’ll start with the basics of “one, two, three” but soon skip in the count to wherever I fancy, maybe jumping 10 digits at a time or perhaps multiplying the last two numbers to put me somewhere else entirely on the continuum of integers. Sometimes, I’ll even count backwards. I look for patterns in these numbers and try to think about why I’ve stumbled upon them. Before I know it, I’ve knocked off another 500 feet of gain. Essentially, let your mind wander and get away from the straightforward and sometimes strenuous task at hand. The Uncounting Game works for me, though other mind-game approaches are endless, from audiobooks and mantras to counting trailside squirrels. Pick a distraction, and go.

8. Get your drone on, musically.

Usually people think music meant for climbing hills should be fast and loud, like power-up anthems that will push you forward with a surge of positivity. Sure, I do that. But as with The Uncounting Game, I also like to let my thoughts wander during my climbs, to forget at least a little bit what I’m doing until reality blurs into a haze. So instead, I listen to drone—that is, mesmerizing, beatless stretches of sound that sometimes evolve very little over the course of an hour. By paying attention to near-microscopic changes, like suddenly sensing the different way a violinist is holding the bow, I slip out of current drudgery. Drone music exists in most musical forms, from heavy metal and electronic to string bands and choirs, so you can find one that fits your mood.

On the CDT, my go-to drones for climbing the first 130,000 feet have been: Kali Malone’s , a massive work for organ; Earth’s , a foundational document of drone metal; Kalia Vendever’s , a gorgeous little set of trombone hums; and Éliane Radigue’s , an absorbing meditation of circuits and bells. You can keep the volume down, too, to listen for the birds and bears as you ascend.

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You’re a busy person who wants to optimize every minute of training to achieve your goals.

I can help you. I’ve coached Olympians, national- and world-record holders, and national and NCAA champions. Each reached the pinnacle of the sport by making the most of the miles they ran while avoiding injury and burnout. To do that, you need to understand the demands racing requires of your body and train effectively to adapt your body to meet those demands.

The races that most runners train for are almost entirely aerobic events. Yes, even the mile or the 5K. To succeed at those distances, you need to be able to sustain a hard pace for several minutes, and often for more than an hour.

You need to be an aerobic monster.

I like to explain this idea by talking about a common race goal. Many of the women I coached collegiately wanted to break 5:00 in the mile. I would ask: “Can you run 75 seconds for one lap of the track? Of course you can, pretty easily. How about 2:30 for two laps? Yes, but it’s starting to get hard. How about 3:45 for three laps? Now that’s getting really hard. Could you then run a fourth lap in less than 75 seconds? Almost certainly not right now.”

RELATED: How to Increase Your Aerobic Capacity (a.k.a. VO2 Max)

My point was that a short segment at your desired race pace isn’t a big deal. (If it is, you probably need a less ambitious goal.) If a reasonable goal for you is to break 20:00 for the 5K, then running 400 meters in 1:36 or 800 meters in 3:12 won’t be a major strain. You have the basic speed to run that pace comfortably. It’s sustaining the pace that’s the challenge. Being able to do that requires training that builds your high-end aerobic capacity. That’s what I mean by being an aerobic monster.

So, what does this mean in practical terms? Mileage isn’t everything, but most runners will become stronger aerobically by carefully and gradually increasing the volume of running they can handle. Increasing your mileage from year to year while still being able to hit your times in workouts and races will improve your VO2 max (ability to pump a lot of blood to working muscles), lactate threshold (ability to clear lactate and therefore not have to slow), and running economy (amount of oxygen needed to hold a certain pace).

By “handle” mileage increases, I mean being able to run at something more than a crawl without getting hurt or worn down. A little extra soreness or tightness is common at a newly higher mileage. A sharp new pain, soreness, tightness that doesn’t go away once you’re warmed up, is a warning sign. Similarly, if your goal is to run 6:00-per-mile pace for a 10K, but you’re so tired from upping your mileage that you struggle to run a 6:00 mile in training, you’re overdoing it. And if you’re no longer a coherent person during the rest of your day, with no energy for your real-world responsibilities, you’re definitely running too much (says the guy who in college studied standing up because he would fall asleep immediately if he read sitting down).

But there’s more to being an aerobic monster than simply how much you run. Take two runners who average 40 miles per week. One might run almost the same distance every day at about the same medium-effort pace. He’ll be a decent aerobic athlete. Another’s week might include a long run, a tempo run, and some shorter recovery days. She’ll be an aerobic monster.

Long runs and tempo runs are key to building your ability to hold a strong pace. I’d much rather have you run 12 miles on Sunday and four miles on Monday than eight miles each day. Tempo runs are especially effective at raising your lactate threshold, the point at which your effort goes from aerobic to anaerobic, causing you to slow in the next few minutes if you tried to keep holding a given pace. A steady diet of tempo runs will make you able to run aerobically at a faster pace and will lengthen the time you can hold that faster pace. A bonus: As you become more of an aerobic monster, your everyday runs will get faster at the same effort level, leading to that much more of a training effect.

To get an idea of what this all means in practice, consider the training of Heather MacLean, an Olympian I coach who was ranked ninth in the world in 2022 at 1500 meters.

Heather’s longest race lasts just four minutes. Yet much of her training before her peak racing season could be confused for that of a 5K or 10K specialist. For most of the year, she does a weekly long run and regular tempo workouts. Why? Because the same principle that was true for the collegiate runners who wanted to break 5:00 for the mile is true for Heather to break 4:00 for 1500 meters. (Her best is 3:58.)

The average pace to do so—64 seconds per 400 meters—isn’t a challenge for her to hold for one lap. What she needs is the ability to run the first three laps of the three-and-three-quarter-lap race aerobically, so that she can sprint against the best in the world in the final 300 meters. How did she get there? In large part, not by running all-out 400-meter repeats twice a week, but by the steady accumulation of long runs and tempo runs for months on end.

RELATED: The șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Guide to Setting and Achieving Your Running Goals

In a typical year, one of Heather’s main targets is the outdoor U.S. championship in late June or early July. On that schedule, it’s only in April and May that her workouts start to look more like what you might expect for a world-class miler. But even then, she still does a good long run most weeks, and many of her track workouts include long repeats at 5K race pace. If she doesn’t have a tune-up race in a given week, she’ll usually do a tempo run. All of these elements preserve the aerobic monster status she built in the previous several months

You’ll know you’re becoming an aerobic monster when your training starts feeling more doable. You’ll find you’re finishing your long runs at a good pace, rather than hanging on and hoping they’ll end soon. On hard sessions, you’ll definitely be working hard, but you’ll feel stronger while doing so, and you’ll recover more quickly between repeats. You’ll simply feel more capable than before; any given run won’t seem to take as much out of you.

— Adapted with permission from , by Mark Coogan and Scott Douglas

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The questions surrounding what to eat—and when—in our society are abundant: Did we exercise enough to earn our spaghetti dinner? Did we eat less before an extravagant meal so that we can feel less guilty enjoying it? Almost everyone has probably heard, or uttered, phrases like, “I deserve this meal because I went to the gym earlier.” But you don’t have to earn your food, and a meal should not just be a reward. Calories are necessary for our bodies—even without exercise—and food is a vital connection between people, their communities, and their heritage. So it’s time we started thinking about it that way. Here’s why.

You Need More Calories Than You Think

In simple terms, calories are units of energy that our bodies need to function. If we eat 400 calories of food, that is 400 units of energy that our body can then use. Our bodies don’t just need calories for movement and exercise. We need them for everyday living. “Our body uses more than 50 percent of its calories for basic life functions, such as keeping your heart beating and lungs breathing,” says performance dietitian . On average, the brain uses 240 to 320 calories a day (and a tiny bit more if you’re doing focused work), the liver 200 calories, the heart 440 calories, and both kidneys 420 calories. That’s 1,300 calories total, more than some diets allow for a daily limit. How we utilize calories also depends on numerous factors, including the type of food we eat, the body’s metabolism, and our gut microbiome.

Why Should We Talk About the Term “Earning Food”?

“When we believe that food must be earned, we create a negative relationship with food, exercise, and our bodies,” says Jaimee Cooper,Ìęa performance dietitian based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This leads to us viewing food in a hierarchical way, and in doing so, we associate a moral value to ourselves we when eat, categorizing foods into good and bad groups instead of recognizing that it provides more than just nutrients. This can also apply to our relationship with movement: oftentimes, we see exercise as an activity that earns food, instead of an activity that can make us physically stronger and supports mental health.

We should also remember that food represents much more than fuel to our bodies. Our meal choices are based on individual preferences, cultural heritage, finances, accessibility, and more. “My hope is that people can connect with the benefits of exercise and recognize that eating enough food is the way to get the most out of those benefits,” says , a dietitian based in Brooklyn, New York.

What Should Active People Eat?

Diversifying your plate is both a simple and proactiveÌęway to think about how to eat. Different nutrients are going to come from different foods. Some foods, like animal proteins (beef, poultry, oysters, etc.) and plant-based foods like fortified cereals, beans, and spinach, provide us with iron, which is crucial for maintaining healthy red blood cells and enhancing performance by preventing dizziness and fatigue. Carbohydrates provide sustained energy for physical activity. A variety of foods in our diet is going to provide us with different antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals and can also help support our gut microbiome, which is important for the immune system and heart.

Have the urge to skip a meal due to inactivity? Think again. Eating every three to four hours helps keep blood sugar consistent and optimizes stomach digestion, prevents lethargy, and could guard against heart health issues. “You need to eat more food than you think,” Cooper says. “It’s a popular myth that training fasted will burn more body fat. While the body may burn fat as fuel, it will also break down muscle as fuel too. Training with food can help your body work more efficiently to get you to push your body further.”

Practice Makes Perfect…Sort Of

There is no such thing as perfect eating because our needs as humans are individual—we are not going to have the same needs and preferences as the person next to us. Our own nutritional needs will also change daily due to our different movements, hormones, and lifestyles, which is completely normal. Tsai encourages people to tailor their nutrition to the type of exercise they are doing that day—a three-hour run will require different fuel than, say, a 45-minute yoga class. “Trial and error is one of the best ways to understand which foods work the best for you before and after you work out, and can make you feel the most confident,” Tsai says. And if you are still confused, a professional performance dietitian could help.

Most importantly, establishing a healthy relationship with food is essential for all of us. This means viewing food as fuel, but also celebrating its social and cultural aspects as well.

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Metabolic flexibility is a buzzy topic, particularly among biohackers—people who use themselves as an experiment in an effort to be healthier or perform better. Being metabolically flexible means that you’re able to switch between burning carbs and burning fat for energy, which helps your body consistently function at its best, both in everyday life and during exercise.

But even though metabolic flexibility is important, do you need a tool to track it? , the company behind what it calls “the first device to hack your metabolism,” claims it can do just that, helping customers burn fat, lose weight, and naturally boost their energy in the process. The premise is simple: users breathe into the device within 30 minutes of waking, and the Lumen app creates a meal plan for the day based on whether the user is burning more carbs or more fat. The gadget, plusÌęsix months of appÌęaccess, costs $249; subsequent months requireÌęan additional subscription.

Despite Lumen’s big promises, experts aren’t sold on the device. Here’s why.

It’s Good to Be Flexible

Being metabolically flexible helps performance. Glucose is your body’s quickest source of energy, but it can only store so much at once; fat takes longer to break down and convert into energy, but we can store much more of it, so it’s virtually always available. In order to best meet your energy demands at any given moment, it’s helpful to be able to switch between these two fuel sources, depending on how much energy your body is burning and what’s available.

A explains thatÌęduring vigorous exercise (basically, anything that makes it tough to carry on a conversation), energy demands are so high that muscles need fuel from a variety of sources, including both glucose and fat. This is crucial for staying energized during long workouts—without good metabolic flexibility, someone will tire more quickly during strenuous exercise and likely won’t be able to go as hard. Being metabolically flexible can be associated with a person’s fitness level: aÌę found that professional athletes had better metabolic flexibility and were more able to efficiently burn fat for fuel thanÌęmoderately active people.

Metabolic flexibility is measured by a person’s respiratory exchange ratio (RER)—a “measure of carbon dioxide being produced by the body versus oxygen being consumed,” explains Dylan MacKay, an assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Manitoba. Generally speaking, most people’s RER is close to 0.7 upon waking in the morning or after a period of fasting. This ratio climbs closer to oneÌęafter eating (particularly carbs), MacKay says. “When RER is at one, you’re burning purely carbs for energy. At 0.7, you’re burning mostly fat.” During strenuous exercise, RER can increase to about 1.1, due to the way the body buffers against lactate buildup.

People with diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and other chronic health conditions tend to be less metabolically flexible. A showed that men with Type 2 diabetes had a higher RER after periods of fasting and less metabolic flexibility overall (measured as less change in RER over time) than men without diabetes.

You Don’t Need Another Gadget

So, if metabolic flexibility is such a good thing, wouldn’t it be great to be able to measure yours every day? That’s what the folks behind Lumen want you to believe. But experts say that the information it sells—especially when it comes to weight loss—doesn’t actually provide new insights.

“If you’re more than three hours without eating, you’ll burn more fat. If you’ve recently consumed some carbohydrates, you’ll burn less fat,” says Nicholas Tiller, a senior researcher in respiratory medicine and exercise physiology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “Do you really need an expensive gadget to measure your carbon-dioxide output and tell you this? I just don’t see a practical use for the product in helping people achieve their weight-loss goals.”

MacKay agrees. “The app gives meal suggestions, with the goal of improving metabolic flexibility,” he says. “But I haven’t seen any data saying that following a certain meal plan to expand metabolic flexibility will have any benefits.”

Plus, Lumen isn’t even all that great at measuring your RER. Its technology is loosely based on a metabolic cart, aÌędevice that measures a person’s total volume of gas in (oxygen) and out (carbon dioxide), calibrates against other gases that might be present in trace amounts, and produces a very accurate RER reading. Lumen, on the other hand, only measures your carbon-dioxide output. And while a metabolic cart reading takes about ten minutes and is usually performed in a medical setting, a Lumen reading is based on just a single breath.

of Lumen, conducted by the company and published last year in the ​​Interactive Journal of Medical Research, compared various RER readings using both Lumen and a metabolic cart, one after the other. While the Lumen readings were correlated with the metabolic cart reading—when one went up, the other went up, and vice versa—Lumen wasn’t nearly as accurate at measuring RER. (Here’s that shows how the Lumen readings lined up with RER readings.)

As Always, the Answer Is to Eat Well and Exercise

One possible benefit of Lumen, MacKay says, is that using it could encourage people to eat a more varied and nutritious diet and to exercise more often, both of which are associated with increased metabolic flexibility and better health overall. But you really don’t need a device and an app full of your RER data in order to do that.

“The use of metabolic flexibility and other science-sounding terms lend the product a false scientific legitimacy,” Tiller says. Lumen’s promise is alluring: “Breathe into this device every day, eat what we tell you to, and you’ll be healthier!” But it’s not really evidence-based. “It’s quintessential marketing over science,” Tiller says.

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The glutes are your largest muscles, and they ought to be among the strongest. Powerful glutes help just about every other muscle in your lower body work better. “Your glutes stabilize the trunk of your body, keeping correct posture in your lower body and spine, as well as helping with extension and rotation of the hip,” says Candice Cunningham, an Atlanta-based personal trainer and trainer.

How Your Glutes Work

Your glutes are composed of three different muscles that work together to control movement of your hip and thigh. The gluteus maximus is responsible for raising your thigh to the side, rotating your leg, and extending your hips; the gluteus medius helps to rotate the thigh outward; and the gluteus minimus helps to rotate the thigh inward.

Activating and strengthening these muscles ensures you won’t overutilize other areas to compensate, which can lead to injuries. “When your glutes are underactive, your quadriceps take the brunt of big leg movements,” Cunningham explains. You end up leading with your knees, which are not meant to withstand that kind of stress. Poor glute activation has also been linked to and , the . Activated glutes prevent this by stabilizing the hip and lumbar spine, Cunningham says.

Of course, strong glutes also offer a performance advantage. Practice these exercises weekly and reap the benefits of a rock-solid rear end.

Best Glute Exercises for Every Athlete

1. Bulgarian Split Squat

What It Does: “Most of us are more aware of muscles on one side of our bodies than the other,” Cunningham says. This can create muscle imbalances. But isolateral work, which addresses one side of the body at a time, prevents your strong side from aiding the weak side. activates the gluteus medius, maximus, and minimus while improving balance.

How to Do It: Stand with your back to a bench, about three feet away. Place the top of one foot on the bench, holding free weights or a kettlebell with both hands, bell facing up. Lower into a lunge, keeping your weight in your front leg. Press back up, using the contraction of the working leg glute to drive you up. Complete three sets of eight reps.

2. Romanian Deadlift

What It Does: This works the glutes and hamstrings more than traditional deadlifts, so you’ll learn to activate your posterior chain without relying on your quads.

How to Do It: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. With a dumbbell in each hand, let your hands hang in front of your hips with your palms facing your thighs. Hinge your hips back, keeping your weight on your heels as you lower the dumbbells in front of your thighs until you reach your knees, maintaining a flat back and an engaged core. Drive through your heels and contract your glutes as you reverse the movement and come to a standing position with full hip extension. Do three sets of eight to 15 reps.

3. Reverse Lunge

What It Does: is a staple for working the gluteus maximus and hamstrings. It improves mobility in the lower body to help with things like steep hikes, powerful sprints, and explosive jumps.

How to Do It: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your hands at your sides, palms facing inward. Hold dumbbells of equal weight in either hand. Step one leg back into a reverse lunge, bending your knees 90 degrees and keeping your weight in your front leg. Press off the ground through your front heel to stand back up. Complete eight to 15 reps on one side. Switch sides; repeat. Do three sets.

4. Lateral Band Walk

What It Does: target the gluteus medius, which often gets left out during other glute-dominant exercises. This muscle stabilizes the hip during controlled and unanticipated lateral movement—crucial for avoiding knee injuries.

How to Do It: Place a small looped resistance band around your shins and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Walk laterally in one direction for five counts, keeping your feet parallel, knees slightly bent, and weight on your heels. Reverse the movement. Do three sets of three reps.

5. Dumbbell Bench Thruster

What It Does: Weak glutes breed tight hips. works to eliminate both, activating the gluteus maximus while working on hip extension.

How to Do It: Rest your upper back on a bench at the shoulder blades with your feet on the floor under the knees. Place a medium to heavy weight over your hips. Keeping your weight on the heels and your core engaged, drive your hips up and contract your glutes. It’s crucial that your hips are fully extended at the top of the movement. Complete three sets of 15 to 20 reps.

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The key to maintaining your ideal weight is to figure out how many calories you need each day, versus how many calories you are taking in. If you eat more than you burn, you’ll gain weight; eat less and you’ll drop weight whether it’s fat, or your hard-earned muscle tissue.

The problem? How much you burn each day depends on how active you are. Here, Dave Scott the six-time World Ironman triathlon champion gives you the easiest way for active people and athletes to determine how many calories they are burning on rest days or workout days.

Want to Burn Less/More Calories? Use This Formula Below

Step 1: Get Your “Baseline”

Multiply your bodyweight times 11. (If you weigh less than 150 pounds, multiply by 10). Keep this number for the next two steps.

Step 2: Get Your Rest-Day Total

Add to your baseline the additional calories you burn going about your daily routine. Use the chart below to determine what your normal activity level is. Now, multiply your baseline (step 1) by the appropriate factor in the chart, then add the two numbers together. (E.g. A 200 pound man with a sedentary day would have a 2,200 calorie baseline, 15% of which is 330 calories, so his total rest day caloric requirement is 2,530 calories.) This is your rest-day total.

Daily Activity Chart:

• Inactive (x 15%): Sitting for most of the day. Yeah, that’s you cubicle boy.
• Lightly active (x 35%): You’re on your feet most of the day, walking or standing. Doctors and Baristas would probalby fall into this category.
• Moderately Active (x45%): Walking, and some physical labor. Electrician? Ski shop employee? You’re here.
• Very Active (x75%): Builders, Farmers, Factory Workers fit here.
• Extremely Active (x100%): Personal Trainers (who work out with clients), Stone Masons, Hardrock Miners

Step 3: Get Your Workout Total

On days you workout, you burn more calories depending on how intensely you’re exercising. Pick your sport and intensity in the chart, below. Then multiply the “intensity factor” by your weight (in pounds) and then multiply by the number of minutes you’re doing the exercise. Then, add this number to your rest day total (Step 2). This is the number of calories you burn on your active days. So:

[Intensity Factor X Weight (lbs) X Minutes of Exercise] + Rest Day calories (Step 2) = Total calories burned on workout days

Intensity Factor Chart:

Swim – intensity factor based on intensity of exercise
.10 → 1:10 per 100 yards
.08 → 1:20 per 100 yards
.06 → 2:00 per 100 yards
.05 → 2:20 per 100 yards
.04 → 2:45 per 100 yards

Cycling – intensity factor based on intensity of exercise
.15 → 23 mph
.12 → 20 mph
.09 → 17.5 mph
.08 → 15 mph
.07 → 14 mph
.06 → 13 mph
.05 → 12 mph

Run – intensity factor based on intensity of exercise
.13 → 6:00 mile
.10 → 7:00 mile
.09 → 9:00 mile
.08 → 9:45 mile
.07 → 10:30 mile
.06 → 11:15 mile

XC Skiing intensity factor based on intensity of exercise
.16 → 2:40/km
.15 → 3:00/km
.14 → 3:15/km
.13 → 3:30/km
.12 → 3:45/km
.11 → 4:00/km

Some of the material is reprinted at șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűOnline courtesy

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