Exercise dependence?

Well some studies just make you go "eh?"

Exercise dependence and the drive for muscularity in male bodybuilders, power lifters, and fitness lifters.

Researchers have hypothesized differences in exercise dependence and drive for muscularity between bodybuilders and power lifters, while others have not found the predicted differences. This study assessed 146 weight lifters (bodybuilders, n=59; power lifters, n=47; fitness lifters, n=40) on the Exercise Dependence Scale, Bodybuilding Dependence Scale, and the Drive for Muscularity Scale. Results showed that bodybuilders and power lifters were significantly higher than fitness lifters on EDS Total, 7 EDS scales, and the 3 BDS scales. In contrast, power lifters were found to be significantly higher on DMS Total and DMS Behavior scales than bodybuilders. The regression results suggest that exercise dependence may be directly related to the drive for muscularity.

First of all it is surprising that there are three scales:

• Exercise Dependence;
• Bodybuilding Dependence; and
  
• Drive for Muscularity.
  

So the more muscular you want to be, the more addicted you are to exercise. No real surprise, but it does make you think about how much exercise is driven by body image.... It is like Keith Thomas said about body image, in the context of Americans, but I think it is generally true about Britain too:

American popular culture, more than any other, is obsessed with body shape and images on American websites are generally representations of the website owner’s ideal or of people in progress along a before and after sequence. One of the most popular search terms which brings people to my website is ‘ideal male body shape’, but they’ll be disappointed to find uninspiring but honest pictures of me there – plus a critical discussion of the recent obsession with male body shape.

I am all for looking good but surely there is more to it ...... like health?

It is multifactoral....

The other day Skyler mentioned a book he was reading. He said:

Lessons from “The Blue Zones.” I think there’s some good information here, especially for those who wish to impart a black and white view into diet and exercise.

I was intrigued. I looked around and found the relevant website, and also ordered the book from Amazon.

The book tries to pull out some lessons about living a long healthy life by looking at the factors which some really lon lived communities around the world have in common:

Here at BlueZones.com, we've organized these behaviors into four main categories:

Move Naturally – Make your home, community and workplace present you with natural ways to move. Focus on activities you love, like gardening, walking and playing with your family.

Right Outlook – Know and be able to articulate your sense of purpose, and ensure your day is punctuated with periods of calm.

Eat Wisely – Instead of groping from fad diet to fad diets, use time-honored strategies for eating 20% less at meals. Avoid meat and processed food and drink a couple of glasses of wine daily.

Belong to the Right Tribe – Surround yourself with the right people, make the effort to connect or reconnect with your religion and put loved ones first.

It is worth digging around the site, there are some fascinating ideas in there.

It is an interesting book. What it brought home to me is the importance of thinking multifactorally.

We often tend to think in terms of a single factor - diet, exercise, stress, sunshine vitamin D or whatever. It is however simplistic to think about a single factor. We don't live like that - we are not in carefully controlled experiments with one variable at a time changing - there are lots of things at play. We need to think more broadly. It is not X or Y....usually it is X & Y & Z & A & B etc.....

The idea of there being lots of factors to bring into the mix came up in my interview with Keith and was raised in a recent comment by jleeger on this blog:

I'm always curious as to the value-judgments (and reasons behind them) that we place on things.

"Paleo" or "EV" is no different.

Were humans "freer" in a "paleo" tribe? Is one technology "better" than another? Does "paleo" as a practice extend the lifespan beyond basic, "simple-living?"

I'm still unconvinced that all or any of these "methods" we find today - from Xfit to Z-Phase to Paleo/EV to HIIT - are in any way "single" answers unto themselves.

They reveal the results a person can expect on their own basis, but also, necessarily limit development in other areas.

For instance, none of those hobbies asks its participants to become a better singer, or to learn to sew/knit, or carve wood.

Similarly, none of them teaches people how to be better at business, or how to make a living.

Taken for what they are, they all have value. But in the end, all of these "methods" are just different lenses through which to view a larger reality.

Restricting yourself to any one of them is madness.

Keep thinking......

Art DeVany comments on my interview with Keith Thomas

I thought I'd point out that Art DeVany has made some comments about my interview with Keith Thomas. His thoughts are - as ever - engaging and provoking.

As to the curious concern Chris asks Keith to comment on about the libertarian slant that sometimes perturbs some people or may be seen as egotism on my part, that attitude comes from two sources:

1. I had to take responsibility for my family's health in the face of the evidence that my our doctors were giving us bad advice regarding the treatment of their type 1 diabetes.

2. my research in economics and complex systems taught me that the order in human physiology---a truly decentalized, complex system operating far from equilibrium---is an emergent property, not one that is determined by top down control. This is true also of a life of freedom. There is no neglect of social interactions or the state of the world; indeed, these are part of the constraints and institutions that help to shape an emergent order.

3. Hunter gatherer societies are very flat and have almost no hierarchical structure (but for some male and age dominance that is primarily earned through knowledge and physical prowress), that is a legacy of agriculture and control of water resources---the hydrological state, not a natural order.

The Paleo/EF movement, if there is one, emerged out of the open and very disordered information space of the blogosphere and from many individuals communicating ideas and experience. So, relax and enjoy the individualism that has made this new science take form and let all share in its findings. I never tried to rush my book out to stake a claim on this knowledge and had I done so, I don't think the movement would have spread as it has. Sharing the information openly was the only way this was going to go anywhere. The genetic research is coming out everywhere now and revising many notions of health. Yet, it is revealing the complex networks of gene expression and hormonal and signalling pathways that take us farther into the realm of complexity. (from here)

Incidentally, my question about the libertarianism of some wings of the paleo movement was not directed at Art. I always find his stuff very inspiring, motivating and challenging intellectually. He makes me think and analyse - which is good.

Interesting thoughts though. With respect to individualism and freedom, I sometimes wonder how free or individual we could be in a hunter gatherer society. The individuals might soon be ostracized for the good of the tribe?

When I am 71 I want to be able to do this!

This one gets a bit boring, but check out his abs at 6:30



According to the note on YouTube,

he alternates 100+ press ups and 100+ ab wheel rolls every day. the result of 30 years healthy living and a daily dose of cod liver oil. legend!

An amazing 5 year old.....

This is freaky. I must admit I wonder how "healthy" this is for the kid.



There are other videos that I can't embed....but check out the kid's physique in this one!

High-Intensity Intervals Vs. Traditional Exercise

This one caught my eye because it was about High Intensity Exercise....so I thought Body by Science. Actually it is just another study on intervals.

Intervals - good for cardiorespiratory fitness but not necessarily for:

• lowering the subjects resting heart rate,
• lowering fat percentage or
• reducing the ratio between total and HDL plasma cholesterol.

Increasing total bone mass and lean body mass needs weight training.

Interesting material.

High-Intensity Training Vs. Traditional Exercise Interventions for Promoting Health

PURPOSE:: to determine the effectiveness of brief intense interval training as exercise intervention for promoting health and evaluate potential benefits with reference to common interventions; i.e. prolonged exercise and strength training. METHODS:: 36 untrained men were divided into groups that completed 12 weeks of intense interval running (INT; total training time 40 min a week), prolonged running ( approximately 150 min/week), strength training ( approximately 150 min/week) or continued their habitual life-style without participation in physical training. RESULTS:: The improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness was superior in INT (14+/-2% increase in VO2max) compared to the other two exercise interventions (7+/-2% and 3+/-2% increases). The blood glucose concentration 2 hours following oral ingestion of 75 g of glucose was lowered to a similar extent following training in the INT (from 6.1+/-0.6 to 5.1+/-0.4 mM; P<0.05) and the prolonged running group (from 5.6 +/-1.5 to 4.9+/-1.1 mM; P<0.05). In contrast, INT was less efficient than prolonged running for lowering the subjects resting heart rate, fat percentage and reducing the ratio between total and HDL plasma cholesterol. Furthermore, total bone mass and lean body mass remained unchanged in the INT group, while both these parameters were increased by the strength training intervention. CONCLUSIONS:: INT for 12 weeks is an effective training stimulus for improvement of cardiorespiratory fitness and glucose tolerance, but in relation to the treatment of hyperlipidemia and obesity it is less effective than prolonged training. Furthermore and in contrast to strength training, 12 weeks of INT had no impact on muscle mass or indices of skeletal health.

ketogenic diet plus weight training

So, it seems (for overweight women)

• Resistance exercise in combination with a ketogenic diet reduces body fat without significantly changing Lean body mass (LBM)
  
• Resistance exercise on a regular diet may increase LBM without significantly affecting fat mass.

So to lose fat and maintain muscle do weights on a low carb diet?

The full text is available:


Resistance training in overweight women on a ketogenic diet conserved lean body mass while reducing body fat