Tensegrity

I first came across the concept of tensegrity a while ago when I read a book called Anatomy Trains. The idea is that we are not about individual muscles. Rather individual muscels are actually linked together functionally. There is a bag of fascia around groups of muscles.

A guy called Tom Myers wrote the book and developed the idea really from looking at disections. Everything is connected.

It is a really interesting concept with lots of applications in sports and massage and it is worth reading the book and at least looking at some of the stuff on his website.

Anyway I spotted this article today that seems to indicate that there is something to it:

Tensegrity principle in massage demonstrated by electro- and mechanomyography.

Based on a tensegrity principle, direct or indirect connections between fascia or muscles which stretch the aponeurosis or intermuscular septum may allow the transfer of tension over long distances, without loss of muscle force produced during rest and activity. The present study aimed to test an effect of massage on electrical (EMG) and mechanical (MMG) activities of a muscle lying distant, but indirectly connected to, the massaged muscle. Thirty-three healthy men participated in the study. To record the activity of the middle deltoid muscle the brachioradialis was massaged, and for the tensor fasciae latae-the peroneal muscles were massaged. An EMG/MMG hybrid probe was used to detect EMG and MMG signals from the middle deltoid and tensor fasciae latae muscles. The EMG amplitude increased during massage in the tensor fasciae lata only, while the MMG amplitude increased significantly in both muscles. It was concluded that there was an electrical as well as a mechanical response of muscle connected indirectly by structural elements with the muscle being massaged indicating an application for the tensegrity principle in massage therapy. It also has a practical importance, because it provides a means for a physiotherapist to influence adverse muscle tension by massaging another distant muscle.

schizophrenia and diabetes

An interesting story. ?Association or causation?

AUGUSTA, Ga. – People with schizophrenia are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers have found.

In a study of 50 people newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder with no other known risk factors, 16 percent had either diabetes or an abnormal rate of glucose metabolism, says Dr. Brian Kirkpatrick, vice chair of the MCG Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. In a similar size control group of people without schizophrenia, none had signs of or had developed the disease.

People with diabetes cannot produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that converts glucose, starches and other food into energy.

Get stronger then apply it

That was one of the things that came strongly out of my interview last week with Doug McGuff. Get stronger using appropriate rational strength training. Then, through skill training, apply that new strength to your sport.

The idea is that skill training is really specific, so if you want to get better at a skill you have to practice that skill....exactly. For example say you want to train a throwing movement, maybe throwing a cricket ball. You decide to simulate the movement with a 5lb dumbell. The mechanics of throwing a 5lb dumbell will be very different from those of throwing a ball. When you go back to throwing a ball you are having to learn a new skill.

Doug would say that the rational thing to do is to develop overall strength with weights and then improve your skill at throwing the cricket ball.

This - by the way - is challenging some of the things I've pointed to in the past about the value of "functional" training.

Anyway, I spotted this study that seems to back up this principle - specific resistance training didn't help any more than just skill training.

Effect of specific resistance training on overarm throwing performance.

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to compare the effect of a specific resistance training program (throwing movement with a pulley device) with the effect of regular training (throwing with regular balls) on overarm throwing velocity under various conditions. METHODS: The training forms were matched for total training load, ie, impulse generated on the ball or pulley device. Both training groups (resistance training n = 7 and regular training n = 6) consisted of women team handball players, and trained 3 times per week for 8 weeks, according to an assigned training program alongside their normal handball training. RESULTS: An increase in throwing velocity with normal balls after the training period was observed for both groups (P = .014), as well as throwing with heavier balls and throwing like actions in the pulley device. Although the regular training group seemed to improve more (6.1%) in throwing velocity with normal balls than the resistance training group (1.4%), this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that resistance training does not surpass standard throwing training in improvement of overarm throwing velocity.

Podcast with Doug McGuff

Last week I posted an interview that I had done with Doug McGuff, co-author of Body by Science.

A couple of days ago Doug featured in Jimmy Moore's podcast with an interesting interview that covers much of the material that is in the book. There is some good stuff in there.

51" box jump...from foam

Jumping from foam is much harder than jumping from a hard surface because your force is absorbed into the foam (which obviously has much more "give" to it than a hard gym floor).

Playing Tag in Edinburgh

Apart from the amazing athleticism of this, I find it really interesting to watch them running round my city of Edinburgh. They picked one of the few sunny days!

A day in the life of a hunter gatherer....

Natural Athlete has a really interesting post:

a fascinating article about the physical activity patterns of a couple modern hunter forager tribes something that should be of interest to anyone who believes in an evolutionary approach to fitness.

A day in the life of a Hunter forager






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Its all in the hips.....

A few weeks ago I had a video up of Peter Consterdine demonstrating the double hip motion for getting real power into strikes.

Last night Rannoch - remember Rannoch?... there was an interview with Rannoch - led a class at Krav Maga Edinburgh looking at developing striking power and it is the same thing....it is all in the hips. - Firepower.

Here is a video of Rannoch demonstrating how to develop power. It starts at the feet, up through the hips and the whole body is involved.



One analogy that was used was the idea of firing a cannon from a canoe on water or from a solid base. In the canoe there is no foundation, no base. ...no power. With a firm foundation there is something to react against, to push from. It is basic mechanics.


The body is a single unit but sometimes we forget that. (As Dan John says "the body is one piece")

Rannoch and Marcus focussed on teaching us how to use the body as that one piece and generate real, useful power in our striking - with force coming right from the ground up. Punches aren't about your arms but you whole body from the foot through the hips to the shoulder. The techniques weren't fancy or elaborate: they were basic but without solid foundations like that you can't build anything useful.

As ever the teaching was straight forward with the techniques explained, demonstrated and then coached so that all in the class understood what we were doing.

turning a plate of pasta into fat

U.S. researchers have found a gene responsible for turning a plate of pasta into fat, offering new clues about how the body metabolizes carbohydrates and how they contribute to obesity. Reuters....


The actual abstract is here - although I don't think you would immediately get the pasta makes you fat message from that! Anyway, what is interesting to me is the way the news story presents some things:

• there is a process in the liver that turns carbs into fat;
• the researchers seem to know that bread, pasta and rice make people fat:

"We hope that this research will one day help people eat bread, pasta and rice and not worry about getting fat," Roger Wong, a graduate student who worked on the study, said in a statement.

• there is this potential genetic method of stopping carbs making you fat...

"The DNA-PK disabled mice were leaner and had 40 percent less body fat compared with a control group of normal mice because of their deficiency in turning carbs into fat," Wong said.

He said the mice who lacked this gene did not get fat when they ate high-carb food and they had lower levels of blood cholesterol, which can reduce the risk of heart disease.

Since humans have the same gene, the team thinks it may serve as a potential target for drugs to prevent obesity.

Why not just stop eating the bread, pasta and rice? Genetic engineering made simple.

Strength Training and Skill Training

I have been reflecting more on the interview that I did the other day with Doug McGuff. In particular I've been thinking about this issue of strength training versus skill training.


Here is a quote from Richard Winnett that says something similar to Doug:

Similar arguments can be made concerning 'functional' and 'stability' training. The basic assumptions are that training in a specific way transfers directly to a sport or activity of daily living and training in unstable environments activates more muscle fibers and also will better transfer to unstable 'real life tasks'.

The arguments made for this kind of training fall apart when the research literature is consulted. At best, studies suggest that transfer of training occurs very little or not at all. This is what is meant by these outcomes. Training in a certain way such as very rapid movements or jumping with weights does not enhance rapid movements or jumping, for example, in a sport, any more than conventional training enhances such performance.

The major outcomes of such studies suggest that the goal should be to gain strength in a safe, efficient, and effective way and then learn how to use that strength in a given sport. Trying to mimic the sport in training makes little or no sense.

I am really intrigued by that last statement: gain strength in a safe, efficient, and effective way and then learn how to use that strength in a given sport.

The sort of research he is talking about is here.


I've started to sense a "freedom" about the approach that he is promoting. Sometimes there is a danger - for me at least - of always looking for the next big thing, looking for the secret training approach that will finally sort me out and make me perform better. Doug's approach is straightforward - you need basic strength training then you need to practice the skills for your sport. It isn't complicated - stop looking for the hidden secret.

Lyle McDonald Interview

Jimmy Moore interviews Lyle McDonald.

I've previously recommended Lyle's books especially his Stubborn Fat Loss Solution

Interview with Doug McGuff

Here is another interview - this time with Doug McGuff - one of the authors of the recently published Body by Science. (Available from Amazon if you are interested). I've read it and found it a fascinating book, but it left me with some questions. Doug has helpfully answered those questions and clarified some things about which I was a bit confused. Body by Science is a really good book. It is built in the way that I like - it starts with the foundational principles and builds from there. It will get you thinking and challenge some of your assumptions. If you want a flavour of it, check out some of the videos on YouTube.
(The book is also reviewed here)



Doug, normally when I do an interview, the first question gives the interviewee the chance to explain a little bit about themselves and their interest in health and fitness. The Body By Science website has this helpful biography:

Doug McGuff, MD became interested in exercise at the age of 15 when he first read Arthur Jones’ Nautilus Training Bulletin No. 2.
His interest in exercise and biology led him into a career in medicine. In 1989, he graduated from the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio and went on to train in Emergency Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at Little Rock where he served as Chief Resident. From there, Dr. McGuff served as Faculty in the Wright State University Emergency Medicine Residency and was a staff Emergency Physician at Wright-Patterson AFB Hospital. 
 
Throughout his career Dr. McGuff maintained his interest in high intensity exercise. Doug realized a lifelong dream when he opened Ultimate Exercise in November, 1997. Over the past 11 years Dr. McGuff and his instructors have continued to explore the limits of exercise through their personal training clients at Ultimate Exercise.

1. Is there anything you would want to add for my readers to give them an insight into you as a trainer and writer?

Yes, I would like to mention that prior to age 15 I was a fat kid. My first attempt at physical improvement was to jog to the end of my street, rest at the stop sign, and then jog back. I was astounded how quickly my condition improved after just a few attempts. This was the beginning of my amazement with the adaptability of the human body.

Later, I was given a Sears Ted Williams home barbell set. I did the workout provided in the manual and was literally amazed at the transformation that occurred. The lifting of weights, combined with the hormonal environment of adolescence had me hooked. The physical improvements made me excel in my sport (BMX) and I tried very hard to keep my weight training secret (until one of my competitors peeked through my garage window while I was working out).

I acquired Arthur Jones’ Bulletin No. 2 from an area Nautilus Gym where I traded Janitorial Services for a membership. Since that time I have always enjoyed working out very hard, and had felt there was something intrinsically valuable about very intense exercise, and that fears of danger were unfounded. I was motivated to study biology and medicine so that I might someday be able to prove what I intrinsically knew as a teenager. Lastly, despite all the HIT rhetoric of “workouts should not be enjoyable”, I can honestly say I have loved every workout I have ever done.

2. You have recently published Body by Science. It is the best book on training I’ve read for a long time. The science is clearly presented and I have learned a lot. I’ve really enjoyed reading it and found the chapters on Global Metabolic Conditioning, The Dose-Response Relationship of Exercise and the Science of Fat Loss fascinating. The book certainly challenged by thinking in several areas and I’d like to clear up some of my confusion.

Thanks so much for the kind words.

So much of the book comes from a theoretical understanding of basic physiology as applied to high intensity exercise. For a long time, there were no studies to substantiate these theories. And let me be clear, I was not the originator of most of what is in this book. You will find these theories and the empirical evidence that produced these theories going way back. There is not a lot of difference between Body by Science and the Rader courses of the 1930’s or the work of Delorme and Watkins.

The concept of Global Metabolic conditioning is just my own answer to the aerobics movement which has so successfully tied itself to cardiovascular conditioning. Questioning the aerobics movement was inspired by the work of Ken Hutchins (developer of SuperSlow-tm). When I looked at the big picture of metabolism, the notion that the aerobic pathway was preferentially linked to the cardiovascular system just seemed silly. Further, the attempt to isolate this component of metabolism sacrificed conditioning in the other components of metabolism that had enormous biologic importance.

3. Your book promotes high intensity strength training – training to failure once a week on a handful of basic exercises - and its many benefits. Who is the book aimed at?

The book is aimed at everyone.

Every person has the skeletal muscle and the supporting subsystems that can benefit from high intensity strength training. I chose a handful of simple exercises that make it easy to focus on the truly important aspect which is intense exertion. Intense exertion sets into motion massive mobilization and emptying of the glycogen stores. By tapping the largest glucose reservoir of the body, you set into motion a process that is the antithesis of the modern metabolic syndrome. By making severe demands on the musculature, you wake up the “active genotype” that is our birthright.

4. I enjoy physical activity – hiking, krav maga, sprint training, weight training. Even if I only need 8 minutes once a week, I do not want to be limited to exercising only once a week. Am I missing something?

Not missing something, just misunderstanding.

The physical activities you enjoy are the by-product of a well-conditioned musculature. I used to try to get my clients to limit their activities outside the gym in order to maximize recovery between workouts. What I found was, that once a client reached a certain level of muscular conditioning, the client almost could not help themselves from partaking in other physical activities, sports, and exertional recreation. I found this in myself. Once I abbreviated my weight workout to the point that I was getting progressively stronger, I had an incredible urge to become more active. I even took up a sport from my youth (BMX) and raced competitively again.

What I now believe, is that the skeletal muscle is the storehouse for our “active genotype”. But realize this…if you dropped the krav maga, and continued your other activities, your conditioning would still be excellent, and you would still remain quite active. The same situation would occur if you dropped any component of your physical activity EXCEPT your strength training. If you dropped your strength training, you would gradually become less energetic and more injury-prone. You would probably first sustain an injury from one of your high-force pursuits such as krav-maga or sprinting. This would either prevent you from hiking, or you would gradually become lethargic and not have the desire to hike.

I feel that there is nothing wrong with lots of physical activity. However, I think the sport and conditioning world needs to understand that proper strength training is the fountainhead for the capability and desire to be this active.

5. You make a clear distinction between skill conditioning and metabolic conditioning. For sports like soccer where there is a lot of sprinting over 10-20 metre distances would you see sprint training as skill conditioning or metabolic conditioning? I suppose I am thinking of the example in the book where you talk about using interval training to train BMX racers. Were the sprints skill training or metabolic conditioning?

It depends on the circumstance. In both sports sprinting is both a skill and a component of conditioning. The reference I made to interval training was to illustrate how SPECIFIC metabolic conditioning is.

Doing intervals that involved 20 second bursts with 10 seconds rest (Tabata Intervals) did not work well for BMX racers because the average BMX race lasts about 35 seconds. So the interval training I was referring to here was for metabolic conditioning. I adjusted the intervals to 35 second bursts and 25 second rests so that the metabolic adjustments would be more precise to the sport. Sprinting (or practicing gate starts) is a very specific skill conditioning that is critical to the sport of BMX. Here the goal is to practice the mechanics of the first component of the race so that maximal power can be transferred to get you in the lead early. Adequate recovery between gate starts is given so energy is available to practice perfect technique. Some conditioning may occur as a side-effect, but that is not the goal of skill practice.

6. One of the big trends in training recently has been “functional training”. The coach Vern Gambetta for example talks about training “movements not muscles”. Is this different from what you mean when you talk (p215) about building “functional strength …..tracking muscle and joint function with the intent of making the athlete stronger”?

I am not familiar with Vern Gambetta or what he means by “training movements not muscles”. When I refer to selecting movements that track muscle and joint function, I am simply referring to using exercises that effectively load resistance onto a muscle so that aggressive fatigue can be brought about, and done so safely.

I do think the notion of truly isolating a muscle group is somewhat specious. I remember how amazed I was during my Gross Anatomy class in medical school by how integrated all of the body’s musculature was. I remember spending HOURS trying to dissect out the separation between the biceps and brachioradialis. There were anatomy graduate students who would spend DAYS meticulously trying to dissect out muscle groups for us to view because they knew most of the class would be unsuccessful. This is why I emphasize basic compound movements that are simple to perform. This involves multiple muscle groups in a manner that is easy to coordinate so that the trainee can focus on what really matters….intense effort.

7. Balance / proprioception. Do you see a role for balance training? For example, lots of old people begin a serious decline following a fall and a fracture. Do you think balance training alone would help or is the key problem a lack of strength which can be built through resistance training?

The vast majority of balance problems in the elderly are due to muscle atrophy and weakness. The stiff gait characteristic of the frail elderly subject is largely due to weakness. They depend on the bone-on-bone tower to stand. As soon as there is any decrease in the joint angle, the force required from the muscles to stay upright is quickly exceeded and they lose balance and fall. All the balance training in the world will not help someone who is too weak to hold themselves up if they “break the lockout” in their knees. Once muscle strength is restored, near normal balance returns. The elderly have some loss of balance due to calcification of the semicircular canals in the inner ear, loss of connective tissue elasticity, and other components that are not improved with balance training. If adequate muscle strength is restored, balance training can produce improvements, but like any other skill, these improvements are very specific.

You can teach someone to walk on a tightrope, but that won’t necessarily make them perform better on a skateboard. I remember watching an episode of MTV where professional skateboarders and BMX vert riders went out to learn to wakeboard with disastrous results. So you won’t find any beach balls or wobble boards in my facility.

8. A related question – is there a role for “skill conditioning for everday life”? The athlete has a skill set at which to excel. Is there a similar skill set that – irrespective of our strength and metabolic conditioning – we need to practice to function well in everyday life? I’m thinking about walking, squatting, balance, bending over etc?

Again, if someone has adequate muscular strength to lead an active life, these “skill sets” will be adequately rehearsed just by the act of living life. But let us be very clear…these skill sets can NEVER BE irrespective of our strength and metabolic conditioning.

9. Do you think that it is possible to train effectively with Calisthenics? If the focus is on intensity of effort – as this review seems to indicate - can “superslow” lunges, pushups, dips, pull-ups and isometrics be sufficient?

Yes, bodyweight exercise can be very effective. Superslow is not a requirement for them to be productive, although in many cases it can be a good intensifier. As long as you use techniques to make the resistance adequate, you don’t need much in the way of equipment. While I love great equipment, low friction, good biomechanics, and perfect cam profiles, I must say that I am tired of the eternal hope that some radical new design in equipment is going to make the marginal difference that is going to make possible degrees of muscular development that were previously not possible. The rate-limiting factor WILL ALWAYS BE the particular person’s genotype.

10. I’ve been reading books about high intensity training / superslow training for years. I’m thinking of John Little’s books, those from Ellington Darden or Slow Burn for example. These have either been illustrated mainly by pictures of steroid fuelled bodybuilders – who have the genetics and drugs to look phenomenal on any training regime - or of very normal looking people who don’t look particularly athletic. Are there examples of people who have built impressive natural physiques using your methods….or am I committing a logical error, ("Fooled by Randomness" style) in looking for “testimonial” physiques?

There are numerous examples of folks that have built impressive physiques using the methods described in Body by Science (or at least HIT principles). David Landau, and Vee Furguson have built competition worthy physiques with once-a-week training. Joshua Trentine has built a pro-level physique using HIT principles.

But you are right, this line of thinking is a logical error. The biggest error that occurs is one of selection bias and survivor bias. Those with the potential for great muscular development tend to have better recovery characteristics and the positive feedback from good results tends to drive them to higher volume. We deliberately steered away from “fitness models” in illustrating the book, so as to not to incite in the readers of Body by Science the exact observational errors that we were trying to dispel in the early chapters.

11. The book mentions that you have learned from Art DeVany. He has inspired a lot of people with his Evolutionary Fitness approach. I’ve noted before that there is often an almost romantic idealism among people who promote a Palaeolithic exercise and dietary regime – I for one am grateful for the comforts of modern life from hygiene to central heating! What do you think we can learn from our hunter gatherer ancestors regarding health and fitness…..and where do we now have the knowledge and technology to improve?---

I think we have to acknowledge that our evolutionary background must be considered when we consider the type of diet and exercise which is best. I would not ever want to do away with agriculture, because it is this ability to plan for the future and store wealth that are the foundation of capitalism which has propelled human life, comfort and longevity so far forward.

However, we must realize that our genome has not had time to adjust to all that is available. We are truly Fred Flintstones living in a George Jetson world. In the realm of diet, the evidence that we should eat within the paradigm of the hunter-gatherer model, and that we should avoid grain-based/agricultural products, is overwhelming. With regard to exercise, we evolved with a requirement for intense intermittent exercise and fairly high activity levels (though not steady state). However, I think a lot of people make the mistake of romantic idealism when it comes to working out…thinking it is intrinsically better to lift a rock, than a barbell, or work out on a well-designed exercise machine. We see this in the movies…Rocky works out with an ox-cart filled with rocks, the evil Russian is on a Nautilus machine. If we understand some of the mechanisms that stimulate muscular improvement and can bring them about in a safer and more efficient way, we should do so. Like I tell my clients…I advocate a Fred Flintstone diet and a George Jetson workout.

12. Your Big 5 Routine is built around the use of machines. I understand that with a properly designed cam there are advantages in terms of delivering variable resistance. However is there any truth to the argument that is often made that machines do not sufficiently stress the synergists and the supporting muscles that would be worked with free weights? Or it is more appropriate to train those muscles as part of “skill conditioning”.---

There is probably some advantage to the involvement of the muscles that must be involved in a static/stabilizing manner to carry out lifting with free weights. However, this must be weighed against safety issues and biomechanical issues.

There are some specificity issues as well. The argument is frequently made that strength that is gained on machines does not translate to barbells. Leg Pressing 1000 pounds on a MedX machine does not mean that you will squat well with 315 pounds. However, what is often forgotten is that this argument works both ways. Squatting with 315 does not mean you will use 1000 pounds on the MedX machine. Building strength involves aggressively loading and fatiguing the musculature. Demonstrating strength will always require skill rehearsal in the modality that you will use to demonstrate strength.

One final point, the “Big 5” is not a magical or optimal routine. I simply have selected 5 movements that are simple to perform and cover the major musculature of the body.

13. What about explosive training? When we see athletes doing box jumps, bounding or Olympic lifting are we seeing skill conditioning or specific metabolic conditioning? Are things like dumbbell snatches a waste of time?---

No, they’re not a waste of time. But you do need to consider the risk-to-benefit ratio, especially when there are alternatives that are safer. In my opinion, explosiveness is a matter of capability, intent, and practice. Capability is largely predicated on your muscular strength. Intent is a function of your neurological efficiency. Practice is marrying your capability and intent to a specific skill in which you wish to be explosive. I do not think there is a lot of evidence to suggest that performing a snatch or cleans is going to help a lineman explode any more than just being appropriately strength-trained and then practicing the specific skill in question.

With regard to safety, I think the dangers may be underestimated because of survivorship bias. Lots of collegiate and professional athletes and coaches advocate this kind of training, but the selective pressure of competition has already identified them as more resilient intrinsically. What we don’t see is what Nassim Taleb calls “the graveyard”- those that have fallen out because of lack of results or injury.

You can only do kipping pull-ups or clapping pushups so long before you tear the labrum of your shoulder or injure your rotator cuff. Further, these injuries are not always acutely evident. You may tear your labrum in your 20’s and “mysteriously” end up with a frozen shoulder in your 50’s.

14. I totally agree that stretching is not conducive to improved athletic performance. However do you see a role for mobility training? There is much talk of mobility training “lubricating the joints”, but I’ve yet to find any research about its benefits. Still I find it enjoyable and something that really “loosens me up”.---

This is definitely in the realm of “Mikey likes it” (the old Life Cereal commercial). There is no data to support this idea, but if Mikey likes it…what the heck.

15. To finish, can I ask for your views on my training? I am a 41 year old office worker. I am fairly physically active and just looking to keep active, healthy and able to keep doing the things I enjoy.

• I do a Krav Maga (self defence) class on a Tuesday – which is generally 15 minutes of warm ups and conditioning exercises (sprints, squats, pushups, agility work) followed by 45 minutes of drilling specific moves – punches, kicks, throws, defences.
• On a Friday at the moment I do some sprint training with some guys at work. One is a competitive sprinter – Scottish over 40 champion of 100m – who does a lunchtime session of 400m intervals. This is tough but enjoyable and a good social event.
• Most weekends I try to get out into the hills for a hike, often in the summer climbing one of Scotland’s many mountains which could be anything from a 2 – 8 hour walk…..
• Somewhere in there I usually do another strength training session – e.g. last week was a 10 minute session of dumbbell rows, dumbbell stiff leg deadlift, pushups and split squats/lunges all superslow style. Other times it may be kettlebell swings or whatever.

How could I improve my health and fitness?---

I don’t think I have a lot to tell you to improve. I would say to make your strength training the foundation of what you do and realize the other things are derivative. It is strength training that will carry you into old age with the ability to continue all of your interests. My rules are basically this…

1)make sure you are progressing and showing improvement.
2) Keep your training frequency such that you experience more days “above baseline” than “below baseline”.
3) Don’t injure yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions Doug!

You’re welcome. Thanks for the opportunity to appear on your blog.

UPDATE MARCH 2011 - there is an excellent video of a talk from Doug available HERE   and available for purchase HERE

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Training Montage

From Joe DeFranco.....



If you like this stuff, make sure you check out his DVD STRONG . It is an inspiring and motivating film....and a well made documentary.

The perils of ultra running....

This made me laugh.

Saturday's run reminded me of some of the things that make ultra running so unique and enjoyable. The joy of stopping for a number 2 in the fresh air, miles from anywhere, and then witnessing the shock on the faces of the two old ramblers who had just come round the corner to find a runner in mid squat. Or stopping for a quick streamie, only for one of the women in the race to choose that very moment to catch up - thanks Aileen. Or the odd sensation of running a bit too soon after eating a pot of Muller rice (with apple), not entirely sure whether it would stay down or not. Or watching my chicken and rice soup blow away towards the Falkirk Wheel. Or finding that both my legs had decided to cramp at the same time, with my arms joining them seconds later in a painful spasm. And finally, the serious embarrassment of trying to spit into the canal but making such a hash of it that most ended up in my hair and on my backpack.

So, dear reader, ultra running is not all glamorous, at least not where I am in the middle of the field. I am sure it is much more attractive at the front end, where Lucy, Jack, Thomas et al run with great style and panache - no jobbies in the trees for them, I suspect: I doubt they could afford to stop for that long and still get as good a time.

I am of course aware that I do all this for fun, and of my own free will, and that no-one forces me to take part.

This guy has just taken part in the annual Glasgow to Edinburgh run - a 52 mile race along the canal

night shifts and cancer

One of the things I've posted about previously is the need for decent sleep in the dark e.g. here and here.

That ideas has now gone mainstream:

Night shifts spark cancer pay-out

The Danish government has begun paying compensation to women who have developed breast cancer after long spells working nights. It follows a ruling by a United Nations agency that night shifts probably increase the risk of developing cancer

...... there was evidence to support the hypothesis that alterations in sleep patterns could suppress the production of melatonin in the body.
"Melatonin has some beneficial effects in preventing some of the steps leading to cancer," he said. "The level of evidence is really no different than it might be for an industrial chemical."

I'm off to bed.....





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BBC propoganda

So the BBC News website has a headline - "Vegetarians get fewer cancers" .

All very interesting until you actually read it and find out that this is not the whole story:

......surprisingly, the researchers also found a higher rate of colorectal cancer - a disease linked with eating red meat - among the vegetarians.

epidemiological studies are always a bit dodgy, but it is amusing that the headline was as it was rather than saying: Vegetarians get more cancer!

low-fat, high-protein vs low fat high-carbohydrate

High Protein beats High Carb?

(but where is the fat?)



Background: High-protein (HP) diets are often advocated for weight reduction and weight loss maintenance.
Objective: The aim was to compare the effect of low-fat, high-carbohydrate (HC) and low-fat, HP ad libitum diets on weight maintenance after weight loss induced by a very low-calorie diet, and on metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy obese subjects.
Design: Forty-eight subjects completed the study that consisted of an energy restriction period of 5–6 weeks followed by a weight maintenance period of 12 weeks. During weight maintenance subjects received maltodextrin (HC group) or protein (HP group) (casein (HPC subgroup) or whey (HPW subgroup)) supplements (2 25 g per day), respectively and consumed a low-fat diet.
Results: Subjects in the HP diet group showed significantly better weight maintenance after weight loss (2.3 kg difference, P=0.04) and fat mass reduction (2.2 kg difference, P=0.02) than subjects in the HC group. Triglyceride (0.6 mm difference, P=0.01) and glucagon (9.6 pg ml-1 difference, P=0.02) concentrations increased more in the HC diet group, while glucose (0.3 mm difference, P=0.02) concentration increased more in the HP diet group. Changes in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, insulin, HOMAir index, HbA1c, leptin and adiponectin concentrations did not differ between the diets. No differences were found between the casein- or whey-supplemented HP groups.
Conclusions: These results show that low-fat, high-casein or whey protein weight maintenance diets are more effective for weight control than low-fat, HC diets and do not adversely affect metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in weight-reduced moderately obese subjects without metabolic or cardiovascular complications.

Animal Fat, Animal Protein and Colorectal Cancer.

Despite what you may have read....

On the basis of the results of this quantitative assessment, the available epidemiologic evidence does not appear to support an independent association between animal fat intake or animal protein intake and colorectal cancer.

Meta-analysis of animal fat or animal protein intake and colorectal cancer

Protein for breakfast

I thought this was moderately interesting....

There is already a fair bit of research abotu protein being the most satiating nutrient - it makes you feel full. This one says that eating it at breakfast is even more effective at making you feel full (when on a diet) than at other meals


Increased dietary protein consumed at breakfast leads to an initial and sustained feeling of fullness during energy restriction compared to other meal times.

The objective of the study was to assess whether the timing of increased dietary protein throughout the day influences the feelings of fullness during energy balance (EB) and restriction (ER). Nine men (age 48 (sem 6) years; BMI 32.7 (sem 0.7) kg/m2) randomly completed five controlled feeding trials, each consisting of 3 d of EB, followed by 3 d of ER of a 3138 kJ/d (750 kcal/d) reduction). The diet was composed of a normal amount of protein (NP) (0.8 g protein/kg per d), or an additional amount of protein (HP) (+0.6 g protein/kg per d) given at breakfast (HP-B), lunch (HP-L), dinner (HP-D) or equally divided among all meals (HP-E). Meal-related (3 h postprandial) and overall (15 h composite) feelings of fullness were assessed from thirteen-point, numbered, linear category scale questionnaires (reported as arbitrary units (au)). When comparing HP treatments, the data are presented as difference from NP. No differences in meal-related or overall fullness were observed among HP treatments during EB. During ER, the HP-B led to greater meal-related fullness (+137 (sem 44) au x 180 min) compared to HP-D ( -1 (sem 37) au x 180 min; P = 0.003), but not for HP-L (+62 (sem 53) au x 180 min; P = 0.188) or HP-E-B (+92 (sem 85) au x 180 min; P = 0.587). HP-B also led to greater overall (15 h) fullness (+404 (sem 162) au x 900 min) v. HP-L (+33 (sem 162) au x 900 min; P = 0.009) and HP-D ( -60 (sem 132) au x 900 min; P = 0.05), but not HP-E (+274 (sem 165) au x 900 min; P = 0.188). The initial and sustained feelings of fullness following protein consumption at breakfast suggests that the timing of protein intake differentially influences satiety during ER.

Pathology on Parade

I posted a couple of videos (here and here) last week from Exuberant Animal.

They have just posted a superb essay - Pathology on Parade - that is well worth reading. It is about observations of bodybuilders - and the bodybuilding culture - at the recent Arnold Bodybuilding Festival.

where’s the health?

In the end, the whole experience brought me to an entirely new level of misunderstanding. For years I have agonized over the state of the modern human body, especially our epidemic of sedentary living and physical apathy.
But here I observed something altogether different. The bodybuilders weren’t sedentary and they obviously weren’t obese, but they certainly weren’t healthy.
Outside of the convention center, I observed normal Americans as they passed: they were fat and sedentary as usual. As I stood on the sidewalk and looked around, the contrast was stark: On one side of the door, a parade of diabetic adipose tissue. On the other, a parade of obsessive-compulsive muscle and silicone.
So now I feel like Diogenes with a lamp on a dark night. But instead of looking for one honest man, I’m now looking for one truly healthy man or woman.
Or better yet, a healthy culture.

Improving inverted rows

Helpful video from Will Heffernan

Hindu Pushups and Hindu Squats in the Snow

Thomas Kurz:

People ask me how to do Hindu push-ups and Hindu squats. Instead of describing these exercises in many words, I show them in a movie below. The movie shows how I cool down after my typical strength workout at the same time maintaining muscular endurance and getting my vitamin D too. It was shot right after I have done my overhead lifts, squats, and deadlifts.

Erwan Le Corre (Movnat) in Men's Health

You will recall the interview here recently with Erwan Le Corre and the videos of him.

Men's Health in the States are now running an interview with him in the current edition. It is in the April issue with a 11 pages and about 15-16 photos about MovNat.

Here is the link

A Wild Workout for the Real World - Long before Cybex machines and stationary bikes, men built their bodies in the gym of the jungle. It's time to renew your membership


Read it - it is superb.....

A smart body, he explains, knows how to convert force and speed into an almost endless menu of practical movements. Hoisting yourself onto a pole may seem as trivial as a circus stunt, but if you're ever caught in a flood or fleeing an attacking dog, elevating your body 5 feet off the ground could mean the difference between safety and sorrow.

And with that one word -- "practical" -- Le Corre exposes a key weakness in modern exercise: Our workouts are domesticated, while the world out there is still plenty wild. In a pinch, can a man put gym-generated biceps and tank-tread abs to any real use? Could it be that our treadmill-running, elliptical-gliding, well-oiled Cybex world has turned us into show dogs who can't hold our own in the hunt?

"I meet men all the time who can bench 400 pounds but can't climb up through a window to pull someone from a burning building," Le Corre says. "I know guys who can run marathons but can't sprint to anyone's rescue unless they put their shoes on first. Lots of swimmers do laps every day but can't dive deep enough to save a friend, or know how to carry him over rocks and out of the surf."

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Correlation doesn't equal causation.

I saw this excellent joke on the Crossfit NYC blog.


This is of course worth remembering when reading scientific studies. Just because x goes up if y goes up it doesn't mean that y causes x to go up. There are lots of examples especially in the world of diet.....

Korean dips

Korean Dips are extremely effective at increasing shoulder girdle flexibility while simultaneously building dipping strength. They are especially valuable for those who have been increasing maximal strength at the expense of maintaining their athletic mobility.

From Gymnastic Bodies

More Exuberance

Following on from the video of Frank Forencich talking about his ideas of how to move as Exuberant Animals, here is a video of him taking a training session, training people to be trainers in his approach.

He makes it fun and makes it a game (a tribal game?) which I think is really important

( as some commenters also point out there is a vaguely hippy vibe to the whole thing too - it wouldn't fit in the sweaty gym i grew up in!)


Exuberant Animal - an invitation to physical happiness from Lauren Muney on Vimeo.

Core Training

Core training helps rehabilitate injuries but does not seem to improve athletic performance.....

A further confounding factor is that because of the differing demands on the core musculature during everyday activities (low load, slow movements) and sporting activities (high load, resisted, dynamic movements), research performed in the rehabilitation sector cannot be applied to the sporting environment and, subsequently, data regarding core training programmes and their effectiveness on sporting performance are lacking. There are many articles in the literature that promote core training programmes and exercises for performance enhancement without providing a strong scientific rationale of their effectiveness, especially in the sporting sector.

Interesting

Optimizing performance by improving core stability and core strength






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Our bodies are designed for a world that no longer exists.....

Exuberant Animal Presentation

I've talked about Frank Forencich - and his book Play as if your Life depends on it - before. His books are great for ripping through the science and getting to the heart of having fun moving.

Here, Frank Forencich gives a live presentation on "A Body Centered Curriculum", subtitled "The Primate's Predicament". In the presentation he reviews the current state of modern health - while this seems like a bleak picture, he then offers suggestions on how to improve our bodies, minds, and culture(s) by doing a slight mind-set slide. Absolutely superb.


Exuberant Animal's Frank Forencich gives hope to the modern man (and woman) from Lauren Muney on Vimeo.

Diet and oral cancer

Is it just me or does this study make it sound like a paleo diet (plus diary) - dairy product, red meat, white meat and fruits - reduces the risk of oral cancer? It is hard to tell from the abstract.

Dietary patterns and risk of oral cancer

What do you think?

Eating lots of meat doesn't mean more heart disease

Well, is that what this study says?

Consumption of red or processed meat does not predict risk factors for coronary heart disease

Objectives:

To investigate whether a high consumption of red or processed meat is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

Subjects/Methods:

The subjects were 517 men and 635 women, who were members of the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, 1946 birth cohort. Assessment of diet was carried out at two time points 1989 and 1999 with outcome measures collected in 1999. Food intake data were recorded in 5-day diaries. Meat consumption was estimated by adding individual meat portions to the meat fractions of composite dishes.

Results:

There was no significant association between red or processed meat consumption in 1989 and 1999 and serum cholesterol concentrations and blood pressure measured in 1999. The combined intake of red and processed meat in 1999 had a significant positive association with blood pressure in men only. Red and processed meat intakes in 1989, separately and combined, had a significant positive association with waist circumference in 1999: a 10 g increase in red meat consumption accounted for a 0.3 cm increase in waist circumference; P=0.04 (men), 0.05 (women).

Conclusions:

Consumption of red or processed meat assessed separately was not related to the major risk factors for CHD but contributed to increased waist circumference that has also been identified as a risk factor.

Which diet is best?

Diet composition does matter after all ?

According to a new study, diets with reduced carbs and higher protein are more effective.

The low carb blogs have been alight in the last few days with deconstructions of a recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine. It purports to show that:

Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.

So it doesn't matter what your diet is as long as you cut calories. The composition of the diet - protein%, carb%, fat% doesn't matter....

Well the study was picked up by the media - but has been well and truly demolished by some very capable doctors and bloggers. e.g. Dr Briffa, Dr Eades and Eugene. At the most basic level it is worth noting that the low carb diet was not low carb. As Dr Briffa says:

Because the diets were so similar in composition, it seems inappropriate to use it to vindicate the ‘calorie is a calorie’ concept.

And what this study certainly can’t be used for (though some have tried) is to suggest that low-carb diets have no particular merit.

One reason for this is that diet 4 - the ‘low-carb’ diet – was most certainly not low in carb. Individuals in this group were getting about 43 per cent of their calories from carb. Let’s for argument sake say a low-carb diet contains no more than 40 g of carb a day (the induction phase of the Atkins diet allows just half this amount). This 40 g equates to about 10 per cent of calorie intake. That’s less than a quarter of the percentage of calories contributed by carb in diet 4.

Also, those eating diet 4 were consuming, on average, 152 grams of carbohydrate a day (almost four times as much as someone eating a true low-carb diet containing 40 g of carb a day).

While the authors of this study mention low-carb diets several times, it seems they were not necessarily keen to test the effectiveness of such a diet. If they had been, then they would have done well to include a diet that was actually low in carb.

However there is a new study that says that diet composition does matter.

Here is the abstract: A Moderate-Protein Diet Produces Sustained Weight Loss and Long-Term Changes in Body Composition and Blood Lipids in Obese Adults

There is a commentary here too with some interesting points:

"The additional protein helped dieters preserve muscle. That's important for long-term weight loss because muscle burns calories—if you lose muscle, and you used to be able to consume 2,000 calories without gaining weight, you'll find that now you can only eat, say, 1,800 calories without weight gain," he said.

This is the first study to show that short-term changes in LDL cholesterol are not maintained with long-term weight loss. Most scientists believe that high cholesterol is more a factor of genetics than of diet," he said.

But the moderate-protein diet had by far the bigger effect on lowering triglycerides, and that lasted as long as individuals remained on the diet, he said.

"Of the two types of lipid problems, high triglycerides pose a greater risk for heart disease. Approximately twice as many people have high triglycerides, and people with this condition are approximately four times more likely to die from heart disease," the scientist said.

The protein diet was easier to follow and maintain long-term, with 64 percent of the moderate-protein dieters completing the study compared to 45 percent of dieters using the high-carbohydrate diet, Layman said.

"Subjects on the moderate-protein diet reported that they weren't as interested in snacks or desserts, and they didn't have food cravings. When you eat protein, you feel full longer," he said.

(Just to be fair before someone points this out....the study was funded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, The Beef Checkoff, and Kraft Foods.)

Paleo Posture

More on posture, from Keith at Evfit - a great site that is worth exploring.

Keith from evfit has some interesting thoughts on posture and body shape in general:

As to how I look, I actually make a point of not caring how I look. I value performance first and I'm interested to see what body shape emerges from my activity regime and the diet I eat to deliver the best performance, rather than building an activity regime and diet to deliver a body image. (There were no mirrors in the Pleistocene, so you'd never really know what you looked like.)

........I have endeavoured to build a body that could deliver health, strength, power and endurance, a body that could provide food and protection, on the assumption that food, protection and longevity would have a greater survival value (for female mates) and that those females would be more attracted by what it appeared able to deliver than any other criteria. What you see is the result of my quest for performance, not for appearance.

He also points to the appearance of Erwan Le Corre who I recently interviewed.

Only a perfect body could perform the way Erwan Le Corre demonstrates in this video. In doing so he also sets up the criteria for judging what a perfect male body should be able to do (not only what it looks like). Form will follow function. Some will run marathons and therefore have a correspondingly different body shape; others will be more heavily muscled through heavy weight training. But humans in the Palaeolithic would not have run marathons or engaged in heavy weight training.





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The wiggle in your walk.

I hope this doesn't sound too pervy.

Thinking about joint mobility I noticed a woman walk past my desk at work the other day with a great gait and a real "wiggle" in her walk. What really struck me was the evident healthy mobility in her pelvis and lower back.

I've been thinking about mobility quite a bit recently and what this walk made me think about was that such mobility is a sign of youth and fitness.....and therefore sexual attractiveness. Older people are not mobile - they do not move the same but they are "solid" and their movements look less fluid.

Keeping mobility keeps you looking young.....and attractive.




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