Ryan Baxter: Eating More Carbs And More Calories To Look, Feel, Perform, And Recover Better

Ryan Baxter is a part-time Primal health coach, father to two young kids, a full-time software engineer, and an athlete. In this episode, Ryan joins host Brad Kearns to discuss training strategies, effective recovery methods, and his experience with embarking on a personal experiment to consume more calories and more carbs. Ryan offers incredible insights about training and recovery in this show, such as when he talks about a 28-mile bike ride he did in Barcelona, saying: “I didn’t come home with a medal or a trophy or anything like that, but I came home with what was a once in a lifetime experience and probably the highlight of my endurance training this year, which speaks to a lot of things—it’s not about the medals and stuff, but when you can find that when you put your fitness capacities towards something that creates lifelong memories and once in a lifetime experiences, then that is the ultimate use of your endurance and your training.” We also talk about a 14 mile obstacle course race Ryan partook in—at 4,000 feet elevation atop a ski mountain!—how to look, feel, and recover better, and much more!   TIMESTAMPS: Ryan tells his story of his bike ride through the Barcelona wine country even though he had  not much training on long distance biking. [01:29] You can find that you put your fitness capacities to something that creates lifelong memories. That is the ultimate use of your training. [03:45]      The fourteen-mile obstacle course is quite an endeavor. You can train for an obstacle course with many simple things around your home. [06:37]        Ryan has been on the journey of trying to figure out how to optimize diet and match to training. [12:03]  If training at a comfortable aerobic heart rate, there is a strong argument that that training can be sustained with a ketogenic diet.  Did Ryan find that to be true? [18:42] If the diet and the lifestyle don’t match the outcome you want, and you keep trying to do the same thing over and over, and it’s not working for you, you need to try something different. [24:56] There are some studies that show that ketones can be a performance benefit. [20:46]If we could just all clean up our diets, then we'd have kind of an open road toward the pursuit of optimization rather than damage control. {33:51] Ryan has been charting his diet quantifying his increase in caloric intake. [40:22] When you are well nourished, you will naturally be more active. [45:46] There are so many benefits from just eating more protein. [53:00] During his study, Ryan increased his caloric intake by 700 calories. [56:16]   LINKS: Brad Kearns.com Brad’s Shopping page Primal Endurance Dr. Herman Pontzer Podcast (Metabolism) Dr. Herman Pontzer Podcast (Energy Expenditure) RJBHealth.coach PrimalEndrance.fit See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.