Conditioning Research

This one is fascinating. I heard this discussed on a radio programme last night (31/7): Endurance-enhancing drugs Scientists at Salk Institute in San Diego have created what they believe is the world's first endurance-enhancing drug. Here is the abstract: The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARβ/δ agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1α, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requiremen...

(be warned this is about 6 minutes )

I generally tend to loosen up a bit on the weekend regarding diet. I don't go mad...but I'll maybe have some bread with breakfast, or a chinese take away. Maybe some beers. And to be honest I think that is Ok, given that the obsessive focus that I sometimes give to diet and exercise is not really healthy. it is good to loosen up a bit. However, this is a new study that would indicate that you need to be aware of the danger of getting too loose on the weekend.....folks tend to eat more the weekend....and do less exercise and that can accumulate. This is from the latest issue of Obesity Influence of Weekend Lifestyle Patterns on Body Weight Objective: To determine whether alterations in diet and/or activity patterns during weekends contribute to weight gain or hinder weight loss. Methods and Procedures: Randomized, controlled trial comparing 1 year of caloric restriction (CR) with 1 year of daily exercise (EX). Subjects included 48 healthy adults (30F, 18M) aged 50–60 years ...

At Monday 's Combat Ready Class , we were doing these as part of a pushup circuit. (Although Marcus called them mountain climbers..which I think are something different.) Here they are demonstrated by Craig Ballantyne . They are tough, especially after Burpee ladders.....

There seems to be increasing evidence - incidentally detail in Lyle McDonald's Protein book - that ingesting protein around a workout has benefits. This is a new study indicating that some protein immediately before and immediately after a workout increase muscle growth and "turn on" the genes related to muscle growth. I've recently begun to pay more attention to proper pre and post-workout nutrition after consulting with Martin Acute and long-term effects of resistance exercise with or without protein ingestion on muscle hypertrophy and gene expression. .......Protein intake increased ........ Resistance Training -induced muscle cross-sectional area enlargement and cell-cycle kinase cdk2 mRNA expression in the vastus lateralis muscle suggesting higher proliferating cell activation response with protein supplementation. Moreover, protein intake seemed to prevent 1 h post-RE decrease in myostatin and myogenin mRNA expression but did not affect activin receptor IIb, p2...

Product Review In the past I've pointed to various resources on intermittent fasting, including Eat Stop Eat and Leangains . I've also pointed to Dr Johnson's Up day Down Day diet . Well, James Johnson has now written a book about his diet. What is the diet? The doctor's website explains the diet. It is a modified alternate day fast, as Matt recently explained . Here is how Johnson describes the diet: It is an adaptation of an experimental model used in animal research. For 70 years scientist have recognized that animals fed 30 – 40% less calories than normal live 40% longer. In May 2003, an article was published showing that mice fed every other day had profound health effects which exceeded those seen in mice fed 40% less than normal every day. Dr. Johnson invented a method which achieved these results in humans with the UpDayDownDay Diet™. Humans are generally unable to restrict their caloric intake even a modest amount on a daily basis. However, most motivated ...

This one is quite thought provoking.... Standard recommendations for 30 minutes of exercise five days a week won't cut it to sustain weight loss, researchers said. There is a good commentary here , but the idea is that people often think that they can get by with diet alone. You need exercise - it is a package deal! Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women Background Debate remains regarding the amount of physical activity that will facilitate weight loss maintenance. Methods Between December 1, 1999, and January 31, 2003, 201 overweight and obese women (body mass index [calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 27 to 40; age range, 21-45 years) with no contraindications to weight loss or physical activity were recruited from a hospital-based weight loss research center. Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 behavioural weight loss intervention groups. They were randomly assigned to groups based on physical activit...

This seems to be about high protein rather than low carb.... Effects of two energy-restricted diets differing in the carbohydrate/protein ratio on weight loss and oxidative changes of obese men. Introduction Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets are a current challenge in the nutritional treatment of obesity. Objective To compare the effect of a low-carbohydrate high-protein diet with a traditional hypocaloric diet on weight loss and mitochondrial oxidative metabolism. Subjects and methods Nineteen obese men (age 36+/-6 years; body mass index 34+/-2 kg/m(2)) were randomized to follow one of the two diets-control diet (15% protein; 30% lipids; 55% carbohydrates) or high-protein diet (30% protein; 30% lipids; 40% carbohydrates)-over an 8-week period. Anthropometry, biochemical variables, resting energy expenditure and mitochondrial oxidation were measured at the start and at the end of the intervention. Results The high-protein diet produced a greater weight loss (-8.3+/-1.2% versus -5...

Fructose Converts Quickly to Lipids Triggering Hyperlipidemia . ...Lipogenesis increased significantly when glucose was replaced with fructose on a gram-for-gram basis in energy drinks consumed by six healthy volunteers, researchers here found. Conversion of fructose to lipid occurred quickly, usually within four hours after ingestion, Elizabeth Parks, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and colleagues reported in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition. Moreover, consumption of a high-fructose drink for breakfast increased liver-mediated fat storage after lunch, the researchers said. "Our study shows for the first time the surprising speed with which humans make body fat from fructose," said Dr. Park. "Once you start the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it's hard to slow it down." Read this bit: "The message from this study is powerful because body fat synthesis was measured immediately after the sweet drinks were consu...

Remember to check the box on the right where you can see blog posts that I am reading and finding of interest

This is interesting....or obvious. Because of their training, climbers end up with the physiques of.....climbers! The best climbers were the most adapted..... Climber's Back - Form and Mobility of the Thoracolumbar Spine Leading to Postural Adaptations in Male High Ability Rock Climbers Abstract In elite climbers, the development of “climber's back” has often been subjectively referred to. However no scientific proof is present. In a cross-sectional cohort study, the spines of 80 healthy asymptomatic male sport climbers were examined. The performance-oriented sport climbers (SC) trained regularly (9.8 ± 4.3 hr/wk) and had a mean climbing ability of 9.7 ± 0.6; the 34 recreational climbers (control group) (RC) climbed less frequently (3.4 ± 2.0 hr/wk) and had a mean climbing ability of 6.0 ± 0.9. Measurement of the sagittal thoracolumbar spine was performed using the “SpinalMouse®”. The kyphosis angle in the erect posture was significantly greater in SC verses the RC. The lo...

I saw this on the Mountain Athlete site today . Very useful and is making me think more about my training for hillwalking . One of the dangers of our programing is we can lose site of the goal. We train in the gym to complement and improve our training and performance in the field, or for our sport. The gym training can become its own "sport" - which can lead to neglect of our sport specific training and practice. The CrossFit advocates argue that their approach is the best preparation for many sports and they point to how well CrossFitters do in competitions as proof. They could be right, but this has not been my experience. Hybrid training may take you far down the competition road, but to truly be elite, I believe most athletes need to more and more sport specific in their training the closer they get to the competing season. ...

A little while ago, Richard noted that his cousins had been asking him about how to start working out / training: For two, I've got Adam, my cousin, and Ronny over in Japan (Ronny: I lived in Hayma in Honshu for five years; '84-'89). They both want to know about the working-out aspect of EvFit. The truth is, I'm not the person to ask. This is the one aspect of the thing I've surrendered. By happenstance, I've got a trainer who knew short, intermittent, variable, and intense. I see him twice a week, and seriously: I'm 'yessir' all the way; literally, to the point I enjoy saying "yes sir" (I've had it said enough to me: my turn). He barks orders; I submit and obey. I wouldn't have it any other way, in spite of the reality that it's normally me in command of all that's around me. I read the stuff about various exercises, and I'm immediately at a loss because I don't even know the names or descriptions of the stuff I do...

I just read this in "Walking - the Complete Guide to the Complete Exercise" by Casey Myers: In today's wild animal kingdom, running is used only as a survival gait. Dr Lovejoy said he doesn't know of any animal that runs more than 3 minutes at a time in its natural environment. ....... it is apparent that we are misusing the running gait when we employ it for prolonged periods of exercise.

The Science of Intermittent Fasting Several times on this blog I have pointed to various studies about intermittent fasting. It seems that there are a number of interesting health benefits to be gained from occasional short periods of fasting. I have also pointed to different resources out there which explain a little more about how to put these ideas into practice. Martin Berkhan's Leangains approach is one that is worth looking into - I have recently consulted with Martin about my own diet and have learned a lot from him - especially in terms of setting up pre and post workout nutrition. Martin is interviewed here. While Martin is focussed very much on athletes or body-builders, if you are interested in something a li ttle more straight forward I've often pointed people to Brad Pillon's Eat Stop Eat ebook . He presents a fairly simple approach of taking 1 or 2 fasts a week, each of 24 hours. This is all backed up with a look at the science behind fasting. Brad has ...

This is an interesting study. It basically suggests that your body gets used to training at particular times of day e.g., if you regularly train at noon then your body gets used to it and performs better at that time than at others . It could be worth bearing in mind if you need to perform well at a particular time for a particular event. Effects of regular training at the same time of day on diurnal fluctuations in muscular performance Abstract : The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an effect of time of day on the adaptation to strength training at maximal effort. Fourteen participants took part in this experiment. Their peak anaerobic power (Wingate anaerobic test) and peak knee extension torque at six angular velocities (1.05, 2.10, 3.14, 4.19, 5.24 and 6.29 rad · s-1) were recorded in the morning (between 07:00 and 08:00 h) and in the evening (between 17:00 and 18:00 h) just before and 2 weeks after a 6 week course of regular training. Seven of them trained on...

This study is getting quite a bit of attention in the media and on blogs ABSTRACT Background Trials comparing the effectiveness and safety of weight-loss diets are frequently limited by short follow-up times and high dropout rates. Methods In this 2-year trial, we randomly assigned 322 moderately obese subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 31; male sex, 86%) to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie. Results The rate of adherence to a study diet was 95.4% at 1 year and 84.6% at 2 years. The Mediterranean-diet group consumed the largest amounts of dietary fiber and had the highest ratio of monounsaturated to saturated fat (P Conclusions Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets. The more favorable effects on lipids (with the low-carbohydrate diet) and on glycemic co...

I spotted a couple of intersting articles in my recent reading with people using intervals and crossfit style training almost exclusively for training for endurance events. An article here explains more: On September 15, 2007, I completed what I am told is the sixth toughest 100-mile run in the world, the Angeles Crest 100 (the Western States 100 doesn’t really even qualify in the top ten). I averaged 6.5 hours of training per week. That includes strength training (almost 3 hours), CrossFit, and speed, interval, and pace work. My body learned to become aerobic at the higher paces, and even during the speed work (see next paragraph on the testing). My one-repetition maximum squat at the beginning of this revamping was 250 pounds. Three weeks before the race I could do 240 pounds for six consecutive reps pretty easily. I didn’t put on a single pound of body weight, and I set personal records at every distance I ran. I showed up to the race in an almost perfect mental state, not overtr...

I've previously had things on here about both plyometrics and balance. This study brings them together and indicates that previous plyometric exercise might have a detrimental effect on your balance and potentially limit your skill in some moves. Interesting from a programme design and warm up perspective - i.e. don't have you athletes doing loads of depth jumps or bounding prior to an event that will require balance and skill...... The effects of plyometric exercise on unilateral balance performance The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of plyometric exercise on unilateral balance performance. Nine healthy adults performed baseline measurements on the dominant limb that consisted of: a 20-s unilateral stability test on a tilt balance board, where a higher stability index represented deterioration in balance performance; isokinetic plantar flexion torque at 0.52 and 3.14 rad . s(-1); muscle soreness in the calf region; and resting plantar flexion angle. Ply...

from Dave

As I said I'm a bit short of time to do much here at the moment. However, if you are interested, I've put up a box on the right of the screen there which highlights recent blog posts that I think are worth sharing. For example there are a couple of recent studies on interval training that you might like to look at: Effect of interval versus continuous training on cardiorespiratory and mitochondrial functions: relationship to aerobic performance improvements in sedentary subjects - These results suggest that fluctuations of workload and oxygen uptake during training sessions, rather than exercise duration or global energy expenditure, are key factors in improving muscle oxidative capacities. In an integrative view, IT seems optimal in maximizing both peripheral muscle and central cardiorespiratory adaptations, permitting significant functional improvement. Sprint interval and traditional endurance training induce similar improvements in peripheral arterial stiffness and flow-me...

This blog is going to be a bit quieter for a couple of weeks: I have another project that I need to put some time into. I'll post things if I come across anything really interesting, but it will not be as busy as recently. If you are interested, I've been posting my training at Hillfit .

A couple of times I've posted things about the dangers of stress and indeed the links between stress and heart disease . Here is another study which highlights a similar issue: PTSD causes early death from heart disease Vietnam veterans who experienced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were twice as likely to die from heart disease as veterans without PTSD, a new Geisinger study finds. In a study published in the July issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, Geisinger Senior Investigator Joseph Boscarino, PhD, MPH examined the prevalence of heart disease, PTSD and other problems in more than 4,000 Vietnam veterans. The more severe the PTSD diagnosis, the greater the likelihood of death from heart disease, the study showed.

Steve Maxwell does some hard work....

This week there was a spate of stories about how low levels of (good?) cholesterol are linked to memory loss and the risk of dementia (also here and here ) Not particularly new stuff - Barry Groves has linked low cholesterol to Alzheimer's - and Chris Masterjohn has explained how memory is directly reliant on cholesterol . Anyway, you know I am not a fan of the cholesterol hypothesis. Then I saw this press release: Statins have unexpected effect on pool of powerful brain cells Now you might think that there is a real positive benefit to statins that has been identifed.....so you read on: Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins have a profound effect on an elite group of cells important to brain health as we age, scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found. The new findings shed light on a long-debated potential role for statins in the area of dementia. Still sounds good doesn't it...so you read on.... The new findings come at a time of increasin...

I thought this was interesting....... What happens when red wine meets red meat? If the rendezvous happens in the stomach, scientists in Israel are reporting, wine's bounty of healthful chemical compounds may thwart formation of harmful substances released during digestion of fat in the meat. Read more The Stomach as a “Bioreactor”: When Red Meat Meets Red Wine To determine the stomach bioreactor capability for food oxidation or antioxidation, rats were fed red turkey meat cutlets (meal A) or red turkey meat cutlets and red wine concentrate (meal B). The hydroperoxides (LOOH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of the stomach contents were evaluated during and after digestion; the postprandial plasma MDA level was also evaluated. In independently fed rats, the stomach LOOH concentration fell substantially 90 min following the meal, and the addition of red wine polyphenols enhanced LOOH reduction 3-fold. A similar trend was obtained for MDA. After pyloric ligation, the stomach contents...

Is this how intermittent fasting increases life span? Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have determined that starvation blocks the effects of growth hormone via a mechanism that may have implications in treating diabetes and extending life span. “It’s been well-established that growth is blunted during starvation. But our work shows that this is not just from running out of energy. It’s much more sophisticated than that,” said Dr. Steven Kliewer , professor of molecular biology and senior author of a study available online and appearing in today’s issue of the journal Cell Metabolism . Using genetically altered mice, the researchers found that during fasting, the actions of growth hormone are blocked by a fat-burning hormone called FGF21. “It’s something that we hadn’t anticipated,” said Dr. Kliewer. Growth hormone has many functions in the growth and reproduction of cells, such as controlling the length of developing arm and leg bones in children. Gr...

Istvan Javorek is probably best known for developing the kind of metabolic weight-training that evolved (?) into Crossfit style workouts like " the bear ". He called these his complexes e.g. Dumbbell Complex 1 ( video here ) Anyway, there is some challenging stuff in this clip as he uses stairs to train some plyometrics....

Recipe to recover more quickly from exercise: Finish workout, eat pasta, and wash down with five or six cups of strong coffee. Well that is what this particular press release says. Personally I can't think of anything I'd like to do less! Glycogen, the muscle's primary fuel source during exercise, is replenished more rapidly when athletes ingest both carbohydrate and caffeine following exhaustive exercise, new research from the online edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology shows. Athletes who ingested caffeine with carbohydrate had 66% more glycogen in their muscles four hours after finishing intense, glycogen-depleting exercise, compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone, according to the study, published by The American Physiological Society. Then again it is possible to perform to high levels as an athlete with minimal carbs ...

you don't see this very often. Anthony DiLuglio talks about the bent press . The Bent Press, once the barometer for measuring a man’s strength, is a long forgotten exercise in weight lifting. A staple in the days of the strongman, the lift, like the strongman himself has been relegated to nothing more than a footnote in modern body building text books, an amusing little “look how far we’ve come” editorial.