More |MovNat

Here is a new video from Erwan of MovNat (I interviewed Erwan earlier this year)



In the Youtube notes Erwan says this:

I feel it is important to remind that even though the practice of MovNat should include free, exploratory sessions in nature consisting in purely random and adaptive natural movement and spontaneous action, MovNat is above all a training method which involves principles, techniques and programming.

The Natural Movement Coaching System that is MovNat is fully scalable and enables practitioners to make faster, broader and safer progress in the practice of natural movement, regardless of experience.

To optimize practice and for coaching efficiency reasons, i.e offering a broad range of training variety in a limited space and shortening the learning curve while ensuring full scalability and injury-prevention, it is essential to practice in a custom-built facility first.

It is especially true for beginners, people that are out of shape, that risk to injure themselves or would be intimidated starting from scratch on their own, to optimally supervise group training, for people that don't have easy access to outdoors, people that live in areas where the winter is particularly tough, for people that understand that what may feel "natural" is not necessarily efficient or optimal, and all simply for all people that lack time and need to optimize the time which they can dedicate to training.

A MovNat training facility can be indoors or outdoors or mix both indoors and outdoors and provides ideal conditions to get started with the assistance of competent coaching.

So again, this new video does not explain anything about the training/coaching method, it is designed to display natural movement training in nature, i.e the most adaptive form of natural movement, and finally to be inspirational.
I hope you will enjoy it!

Testing Crossfit Endurance.

We've mentioned Crossfit Endurance before.



They use short intervals to train athletes for long distance endurance efforts. Interesting but controversial.

Some guys here in Scotland are about to test the Crossfit endurance approach.

On the 17th and 18th of October 2009 we’ll be conducting a wee experiment in human-powered distance covering. The West Highland Way, at just under 100 miles, is the ideal venue.

Two road cyclists, two mountain bikers and two runners will leave Fort William on Saturday morning. The roadies will follow the A82 (including the detour to Kinlochleven, no slacking here) and the others will be sticking to the WHW route.
The mtb and running records are around half an hour apart, so although the roadies will be sitting waiting with their feet up by the fire at the Real Food Café at the half way point, the rest is an unknown.

While we’re not expecting to break any records, it’s still very much a test.
The runners have trained using Crossfit. High intensity weight lifting and workouts to increase endurance without any distance training. It’s been proven to work for athletes in the US, but this is the first major trial in the UK, and it’s coming at the start of winter.
The weather will be a factor, and all the participants are being supplied with lightweight multisport clothing and equipment from some of the worlds leading manufacturers who are relying on the conditions to really test their products and provide valuable feedback.

The event (we’re not calling it a race, although times will be recorded, it’s not a race…) has been organised by Peter Macfarlane (PTC), the UK’s leading independent voice covering lightweight outdoor equipment and techniques. A regular Trail Magazine contributor, freelance writer and equipment tester.
After walking the WHW in a little over two days in lightweight style last year, PTC decided to have another shot. Friends volunteered, plans were formed and we’re now ready to go

I did half of the WHW last year over two days....can't imagine running it all like this!

More simplicity

I'm still thinking about the importance of concentrating on the basics. It is so easy to get diverted onto superfluous stuff that doesn't really matter and only distracts you from the basics of movement and consistency.

These thoughts were encouraged by a superb post that I read this morning from Seattle Combatives - Learning From Animals

Read the whole thing, but this is what struck me:

WHAT IS IT THAT WE CAN LEARN AND UTILIZE FROM THE IN WHICH ANIMALS FIGHT? Consider the following:

1. Animals have only a very limited number of “natural weapons”, and only a very simple “technique” for utilizing them.

One or two natural “built in” weapons is it. And one or two certainly do seem to be quite adequate, when you observe the efficiency with which they use them!

Would you rather face a black belt in some martial art who had learned many hundreds or thousands of techniques, or a charging tiger who had “only” two claws and one mouth?

The leopard is a ferocious and formidable jungle cat. Like all of the jngle cats the peopard attacks with all of his bodyweight and with 100% focus of his power in his TEETH and his CLAWS — the two weapons Nature gave him. Although a man cannot "fight with the physical actions of a leopard" he certainly can employ the leopard's priciples of using only a couple of simple weapons, and attacking ferociously!

2. Animals attack — they do not block or “defend”.

Yes, yes, yes, we know all about the mongoose and how it evades the cobra’s thrust. However, the mongoose, just like the American Combato student, evades a thrust or other attack solely to be able to attack the attacker. He is not being “defensive”. The mongoose ATTACKS (just as the cobra does).

By the way, the mongoose and the cobra was the School emblem of one of our original NYC Instructors — our beloved Charlie Nelson. Charlie correctly believed that the mongoose’s strategy was excellent — because it enable him to ATTACK.

Basics, basics.

Get some basic techniques down and drill them until you can do them well. That is all there is to it. Time is short. Life goes fast. Find something simple and get good at it. In the combatives world it might be drilling simple combinations - palm heel, elbow, knee for example. Over and over until it flows.

You like kettlebells? Swing, swing, swing.....press, press, press.

Calisthenics? push-ups, squats, chins

Coming back to you

I keep gravitating to a handful of things. I come back again and again to pushups, sprints, kettlebell swings, goblet squats, jumps.

It is like Bryce Lane says

I'm always stunned at how little things you've collected tend to come back over and over. It's like having kind of a template...like the Dragan workout. Even through the worst of this I was always able to do some of that.

I've changed it around a bit now to include B-circuit 2r(right now...), and a 2 dumbell clean and press 25#/35r. Jumped on top of a 25" barrel for 12 reps also, on a couple of good days (shhhhh...)

I think the most valuable things you can collect are a couple of absolute basic templates you can create something to fit from depending on your situation. Everyone thinks about lines of attack but having a line of "fighting retreat" is even more valuable when the occasion arises.

Bryce

(by the way the Dragan thing is air squats and the vertical lift he does them for thousands of reps as below)

Self Defence Seminar

Click to enlarge

I'd recommend this to anyone who is within easy traveling distance of Edinburgh. Marcus and Lee are great instructors.

Stick to the basics...

Some of Rannoch's comments on recent posts have got me thinking.

He is right. So much of what you read is written as if the average trainee is an elite athlete training for the national championships.

In general that is not true. Most of us are just average guys wanting to keep fit and healthy. We want to be better than average but we also are not elite.

We do not need the routines of the champions. We need to move more, to do the basics and get better at basic movements.

Here are the comments, which are worth a post of their own:

On Craig Ballantyne

Whilst CB's sales pitch is relentless, here offers simple effective methods for average people. And this is the key.

You talk about training enrgy systems and training geared towards specific activities. well I am afraid that applies to a very small percentage of folks out there. In fact ,if I were to identify one thing that stops people making progress it is trying to adhere to routines and protocols that are beyond the average persons reach.

Most people don't have a basic foundation from which to build general fitness and well-being, yet they gravitate to the programs offered in the fitness mags that promise radical results in 28 days.

In truth, the average person will seem greater returns from a simple bodyweight program, done consistently with intensity.

If you are not an athlete, the fastest route to injury and over training is to train like one.

Think general, think foundation. Once you have that nailed we can talk specifics.

On functional training

Good stuff as always Chris. The danger here is we are entering into high performance territory. For those looking to shave milliseconds or add millimetres, the devil really is in the details.

The sports scholarship culture in the US has created an entire industry round perfromance measurement. As a result everyone is under the microscope. In turn these measures become an industry standard of sorts.

But for the other 99% looking to improve their pick up basket ball game,hit the pads a little harder or simply be fit for purpose we will always come back to the general stuff. If for no other reason than it leaves us time to do the specific activity we choose.

Basics are only boring if you can't do them. Otherwise they are the key so sophisticated performance. That is the irony.

People sweat bullets trying to do a one arm push up when they don't have the physical control to do 30 crisp regular push ups. Master the later and the the former becomes possible.

Martial arts is another tgreat example. People get bored so they look for novelty. then they wonder why a guy with nothing more than a solid jab can run rings around them.

There is nothing without foundation.

If you are not getting results, chances are you just aren't training the basics consistently and hard enough.

Marc also commented:

Our teacher always told people that what you saw him do is just the basics/foundation executed very very well. He would then say in his broken english, all of you stink because your basics still stink ;-)

(By the way, my interview with Rannoch is here)

more on functional training

If you have followed this blog for a while you'll have seen the discussions of "functional training". The High Intensity Training position more or less is that there is no such thing. Everything is specific. You can develop strength and fitness, but the sports specific skills must be developed separately by practising those skills - i.e. bench presses will make you stronger but to be a better puncher you must punch well.

Luke went through all this in the interview here.

Vern Gambetta had a good piece on his blog today on this area:

General or Specific

Jay Johnson asked me to comment on balancing specificity and generality in training. Jay is a middle distance and distance coach, but I will broaden this to include all events and all sports.

Obviously the highest degree of specificity of training and the most direct transfer occurs when you do the activity itself. Frankly this is where training has advanced significantly over the last sixty years. We realized that staying highly specific would result in diminishing returns. We need to balance the actual activity with other training tasks that would improve the actual activity. This is where a fundamental disconnect began. As time progressed, especially in the last twenty years we have progressed down a path of just doing work, doing exercises that looking like the sport or event, but that we overloaded and slowed down to the point where they had no transfer. I think the distortion and misuse of the Mach drills is a good example. They are not technique drills. They are drills that break the stride cycle into its component parts in order to strengthen through a full range of motion and improve dynamic flexibility. If done correctly they have a high degree of specificity in terms of special strength development and flexibility. Certainly better transfer that riding a bike or using a stair stepper for a runner.

To me it comes down to similar or same.

Similar is OK, but you need to understand what you are trying to accomplish. I like to think of it this way

1) The actual activity

2) First Derivative – similar or big component parts, no compromise on speed of movement
2) Second Derivative – Similar not attempting to replicate the speed of the movement, probably with some resistance
3) Third Derivative – very far removed, any similarities are coincidental.

In laying out a training program I try to balance all three. They all need to be there during all phases of the training year, just with a different emphasis. I think a good example of this is what I read of Roger Federer’s training. They always touch on fundamental movements and they always play tennis.

What I think has happened especially in the last twenty years is that there has arisen an emphasis on general work to get them fit. Fit for what?

Just making them tired does not make them better. This is alarming trend in middle distance and distance training where too much mindless circuit work is justified as “general strength.” I maintain that that is just work, work that could be better planned and sequenced to specifically strength the movements that would make them better runners.

As usual I am quite outside the norm on this, but I have seen it done better. Look at Coe’s training. The high school runner Peter Callahan who ran 4:05.2 in the mile this year used the “general work” very wisely. We need to wake up and realize that it is not about exercises and making them sore and tired it is about preparing for their race or sport.

If you are going to be obese.....make sure you are fit and active too

...that is what I make of this study. Fat is not great.....but fat fit and active helps because the type of fat and its location is changed.


Fat distribution in men of different waist girth, fitness level and exercise habit

Background: The risk of chronic disease is lower in obese men who are fit and active than obese men who are unfit and inactive.

Methods/Objectives: Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy were used to assess total and regional adipose tissue in 13 men who were slim, fit and active (the slim-fit), in 12 men who were slim, unfit and inactive (the slim-unfit), in 13 men who were fat, fit and active (the fat-fit) and in 12 men who were fat, unfit and inactive (the fat-unfit), in order to investigate the hypothesis that visceral fat and liver fat are lower in the fat-fit than the fat-unfit. Waist girth was used to distinguish slim men (90 cm) and fat men (100 cm). Maximal oxygen consumption was used to identify fit men (above average for age) and unfit men (average or below for age). Fit men reported at least 60 min of vigorous aerobic activity per week and unfit men reported no regular moderate or vigorous activity in the last 2 years.

Results: Total fat was not significantly different in the slim-fit and the slim unfit, but the proportion of internal fat was significantly lower (P<0.05) and the proportion of visceral fat was almost significantly lower (P=0.06) in the slim-fit than all other groups. Total fat was not significantly different in the fat-fit and the fat-unfit, but visceral fat and liver fat were significantly lower in the fat-fit than the fat-unfit (P<0.01). Waist girth and years of exercise explained 84% of the variance in total fat, waist girth and maximal oxygen consumption explained 70% of the variance in visceral fat, and waist girth alone explained 25% of the variance in liver fat.

Conclusion: Chronic disease risk may be lower because visceral fat and liver fat are lower in men who are fat, fit and active.

This is funny....but with a serious message

It is worth reading Tom Naughton's excellent post Bogus Science is Draining

Simple and Straightforward

you know, I tend to think that Craig's sales pitches are way over the top, but to be honest his programmes - Turbulence Training - are pretty solid.

The Five Sisters of Kintail...

Wonderful. When you get the weather you cannot beat this country.

A Paleo lunch?

Whatever...it was fantastic. Fresh prawns from the local loch, with a caviar mayonnaise.

I was away

Up north for a few days.

Superb weather - I'll post more photos later.

Apologies and the placebo

Sorry that things are quiet around here at the moment - I've just not come across that much that I wanted to post or that was of interest.

Just this interesting piece on the placebo effect. Once again, be aware of the power of the mind.

The placebo paradox - Placebo healings can't be eliminated by the progress of medicine. In fact medical progress can only strengthen them

Away from the internet for a few days now, but will be back soon.

Free Workouts

Mike and Scott have just launched their free workouts - Bodyfitburn:Bodyweight Revolution - 3 times a week they are publishing a scaleable bodyweight workout. Sort of a bodyweight simplified crossfit I suppose.


Joel has been doing something similar for a few year's with what is now called the Daily Fitness Solution Blog.

The Daily Fitness Solution is a general physical preparation program using bodyweight exercises and requiring just twenty minutes per day. It is a total fitness system, broad enough to be used as a stand alone exercise program but concise enough to be used as a complement to sports specific training. TDFS requires little or no equipment, and the exercises are simple to learn and perform safely. It is a fitness routine you can take with you anywhere, and with a daily commitment of only twenty minutes, even the busiest individual can find time to improve his health and fitness.

Proper Exercise and Nutrition

Anthony (Dream) Johnson talks about his view of proper exercise and nutrition. Interesting stuff. He talks about Body by Science and the Primal Blueprint, both books that I've discussed here before now.

The post includes a link to his power point slides which is useful.

MMA Training

Davie pointed to this....

When asked to train with a MMA i agreed , if this happens to you say NO ... HA HA

spiderman

hat tip

I linked to this a while ago but was not able to embed it then

Eating late at night adds weight...or is it eating at the wrong time?

Given my interest in intermittent fasting I found this article and report interesting. ( some modes of IF - e.g. the Warrior diet - sees you just having one big meal at night)

The BBC reported that:

Late-night snackers are more likely to gain weight, research suggests.

Although strictly speaking, that is not really what the science said. The study says this:

Studies of body weight regulation have focused almost entirely on caloric intake and energy expenditure. However, a number of recent studies in animals linking energy regulation and the circadian clock at the molecular, physiological, and behavioral levels raise the possibility that the timing of food intake itself may play a significant role in weight gain. The present study focused on the role of the circadian phase of food consumption in weight gain. We provide evidence that nocturnal mice fed a high-fat diet only during the 12-h light phase gain significantly more weight than mice fed only during the 12-h dark phase. A better understanding of the role of the circadian system for weight gain could have important implications for developing new therapeutic strategies for combating the obesity epidemic facing the human population today.

So feed nocturnal mice in the day and they get fatter than if you feed them in the dark. The take home from this according to the journalists is that it is not just what you eat but when you eat it that matters.

Here is more from the BBCs view of this:

Deanna Arble, lead author of the study, said: "One of our research interests is shift workers, who tend to be overweight.

"This got us thinking that eating at the wrong time of day might be contributing to weight gain."
The experiment looked at two groups of mice over a six-week period. Both groups were fed a high-fat diet, but at different times of the mice "waking cycle".

One group of mice ate at times when they would normally be asleep. They put on twice as much weight. This was despite them doing the same level of activity, and eating the same amount of food, as the other mice.

Interesting.

So when is it natural for us to eat? In the day......or at night? after the hunt? When is the right time and when is wrong?

Things are actually quite complicated

This is an interesting looking discussion paper.

Lack of adequate appreciation of physical exercise's complexitiescan pre-empt appropriate design and interpretation in scientific discovery.

I've not read the whole thing, but this statement stood out in the abstract:

Normal physiological processes are dynamic, integrated, periodic, and therefore, it is difficult to define normal physiological function by looking at a single time point or single process in a non-stressed subject.

The paper is challenging this idea of an exercise pill - this concept that a drug could be developed to mimic the beneficial effects of exercise.

The authors object:

The concept of an "exercise pill/exercise mimetic" demonstrates an inadequate appreciation for the complexities in integrating cell, tissue, organ, and systems during both acute disruptions in homeostasis by a single bout of exercise, and longer-term chronic adaptations to different types of exercise such as resistance and endurance.

We are more complex systems - there are lots of interactions going on when we exercise. You cannot separate out single elements and expect to understand the whole.

This may sound complex but I think there is also a simplicity about this. We need to move, to exercise. The movements and the exercise can be simple but the effects on our bodies may be quite complex and indeed may be predicated on complex systemic interrelationships.

Pacing Strategy

OK, so you agree to do a 5 minute time trial....but how do you pace it for the best performance? Particularly how do you start off? Fast then slow down, slow then speed up or just try to keep it even.....

5 minutes is a really difficult distance - like the mile in a run: not a sprint but not a long slow thing either.

This study says it is better to go off fast.....




Effects of starting strategy on 5-min cycling time-trial performance.

The importance of pacing for middle-distance performance is well recognized, yet previous research has produced equivocal results. Twenty-six trained male cyclists (VO(2peak) 62.8 +/- 5.9 ml . kg(-1) . min(-1); maximal aerobic power output 340 +/- 43 W; mean +/- s) performed three cycling time-trials where the total external work (102.7 +/- 13.7 kJ) for each trial was identical to the best of two 5-min habituation trials. Markers of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism were assessed in 12 participants. Power output during the first quarter of the time-trials was fixed to control external mechanical work done (25.7 +/- 3.4 kJ) and induce fast-, even-, and slow-starting strategies (60, 75, and 90 s, respectively). Finishing times for the fast-start time-trial (4:53 +/- 0:11 min:s) were shorter than for the even-start (5:04 +/- 0:11 min:s; 95% CI = 5 to 18 s, effect size = 0.65, P < 0.001) and slow-start time-trial (5:09 +/- 0:11 min:s; 95% CI = 7 to 24 s, effect size = 1.00, P < 0.001). Mean VO(2) during the fast-start trials (4.31 +/- 0.51 litres . min(-1)) was 0.18 +/- 0.19 litres . min(-1) (95% CI = 0.07 to 0.30 litres . min(-1), effect size = 0.94, P = 0.003) higher than the even- and 0.18 +/- 0.20 litres . min(-1) (95% CI = 0.5 to 0.30 litres . min(-1), effect size = 0.86, P = 0.007) higher than the slow-start time-trial. Oxygen deficit was greatest during the first quarter of the fast-start trial but was lower than the even- and slow-start trials during the second quarter of the trial. Blood lactate and pH were similar between the three trials. In conclusion, performance during a 5-min cycling time-trial was improved with the adoption of a fast- rather than an even- or slow-starting strategy.

So fish oil reduces inflammation?

maybe......

An inverse relationship between plasma n-3 fatty acids and C-reactive protein in healthy individuals

High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a marker of low-grade sustained inflammation. Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with reduced cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The aim of this study was to investigate whether plasma n-3 fatty acid concentration is related to hs-CRP concentration. A total of 124 free-living adults, were divided into tertiles of plasma hs-CRP (<1.0, 1.0–3.0 and >3.0 mg/l). Body composition and anthropometric measurements were recorded. Hs-CRP was analysed using immunoassays and fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography. Plasma hs-CRP concentration was negatively correlated with total n-3 fatty acids (P=0.05), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; P=0.002) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA; P=0.01). The highest hs-CRP tertile (>3.0 mg/l) had significantly lower concentrations of total n-3 fatty acids, EPA and DPA, when compared with the other tertiles (P<0.05). This study provides evidence that in healthy individuals, plasma n-3 fatty acid concentration is inversely related to hs-CRP concentration, a surrogate marker of CVD risk.

more on muscle imbalance

It is worth checking out Monte Hueftle's comment to Koen on the post here.

Beer Bellies......

So apparently while beer might (ok will) make you fat, it will not cause a specific beer belly.....

Beer consumption and the 'beer belly': scientific basis or common belief?

Background/Objectives: The term 'beer belly' expresses the common belief that beer consumption is a major determinant of waist circumference (WC). We studied the gender-specific associations between beer consumption and WC (partially in relation to body weight and hip circumference (HC) change).
Participants/Methods: Within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)–Potsdam study (7876 men, 12 749 women), cross-sectional associations were investigated applying general linear models. Prospective analyses of baseline beer consumption and an 8.5-year WC change were assessed using multivariate general linear models and polytomous logistic regression. To test the site-specific effect of beer consumption on WC, an adjustment for concurrent changes in body weight and HC was carried out. In addition, the relationship between change in beer consumption and change in WC was studied.
Results: A positive association in men and no association in women were seen between beer consumption and WC at baseline. Men consuming 1000 ml/d beer were at 17% higher risk for WC gain compared with very light consumers. Significantly lower odds for WC gain (odds ratio=0.88; 95% confidence interval 0.81, 0.96) were found in beer-abstaining women than in very-light-drinking women. The adjustment for concurrent body weight and HC change diminished effect estimates notably, explaining most of the association between beer and change in WC. Decreasing beer consumption was related to higher relative odds for WC loss, although not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Beer consumption leads to WC gain, which is closely related to concurrent overall weight gain. This study does not support the common belief of a site-specific effect of beer on the abdomen, the beer belly.

kids and sports

An interesting video from the Exuberant Animal crew.

Human Development: Kids and sports from Lauren Muney on Vimeo.

How bad for you is it to be fat?

Interesting.....



So it is healthy to be fat and fit?