Conditioning Research

Jim from Beast Skills is training for a one arm handstand pushup. He is almost there. This is what he says: In 1954, Roger Bannister was the first man to run a sub-4-minute mile. Within 3 years, 16 other runners had also. The psychological barrier had been broken. The one arm handstand pushup holds a similar mystique. While some say it is impossible, others are busy training for it. I've been working my one arm handstand a lot, and my pressing strength is the best it has been. Here now is some work with the assisted one arm handstand pushup. I'll say I prefer the 2-3 finger assist the best.

I was visiting my parents this weekend and on Saturday I was flicking through their Daily Mail. The self righteous hypocrisy of it usually just annoys me - it preaches old fashioned values while reporting the lurid details of celebrity gossip in a disapproving yet exhaustive way. Anyway there were two articles which cuaght my eye and gave me hope: The Big Fat Lies about Britain's obesity epidemic This is a good essay with three premises: Starch is making you fat There is no evidence that saturated fat is a health problem Exercise for weight loss is overrated. Good Gar y Taubes style stuff . In fact I would not be surprised if the author had based this on Taubes. The other thing reported was a diet used by Margaret Thatcher to lose 20lb in 2 weeks: basically a low carb diet - meat, leaves and berrys. The Maggie diet - whisky, spinach and 28 eggs a week Here is a quote from her archive : MT in fact discussed the diet in an interview with the Sun on 13 March 1979. At that point sh...

Further to the post from a couple of days ago on the latest research - How did we manage to run with no shoes ? - I was reading the excellent Science of Sport blog and they pointed to the page that the researches have set up to promote and give training tips for Running Barefoot or In Minimal Footwear It is definitely worth reading - go here . There are a couple of videos there that are worth looking at: Forefoot Striking Barefoot: Produces Minimal Impact Force with No Impact Transient- as compared to Heel Strike in Shoes: Produces Significant Impact Transient There are some good tips for making the shift: Tips on Transitioning to Forefoot or Midfoot Striking Forefoot striking barefoot or in minimal footwear requires you to use muscles in your feet (mostly in the arch) that are probably very weak. Running this way also requires much more strength in your calf muscles than heel striking because these muscles must contract eccentrically (while lengthening) to ease the heel onto the gr...

Now this one is interesting.... lots of implications The abstract is below but some comment first (informed from this and this ) the study found that exercise enhanced insulin sensitivity, particularly when meals eaten after the exercise session contained relatively low carbohydrate content. Enhanced insulin sensitivity means that it is easier for the body to take up sugar from the blood stream into tissues like muscles, where it can be stored or used as fuel. Impaired insulin sensitivity (i.e., "insulin resistance") is a hallmark of Type II diabetes, as well as being a major risk factor for other chronic diseases, such as heart disease. Interestingly, when the research subjects in this study ate relatively low-calorie meals after exercise, this did not improve insulin sensitivity any more than when they ate enough calories to match what they expended during exercise. This suggests that you don't have to starve yourself after exercise to still reap some of the importa...

I can't resist this one. Obese people are more likely to be mental?

I've had stuff up here before on treating cancer with low carb diets - like this . Here us a new study that looks a bit more deeply at the whole area. Much of it is beyond me, but there is some interesting stuff there. Emerging evidence indicates that impaired cellular energy metabolism is the defining characteristic of nearly all cancers regardless of cellular or tissue origin. In contrast to normal cells, which derive most of their usable energy from oxidative phosphorylation, most cancer cells become heavily dependent on substrate level phosphorylation to meet energy demands. Evidence is reviewed supporting a general hypothesis that genomic instability and essentially all hallmarks of cancer, including aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect), can be linked to impaired mitochondrial function and energy metabolism. A view of cancer as primarily a metabolic disease will impact approaches to cancer management and prevention. The whole paper is available as pdf

I haven't had much about sleep recently but be assured that sufficient sleep is vital ( see here ) Anyway just a quick one: Less sleep less brain "We show, for the first time, that insomnia patients have lower grey matter density in brain regions involved in the evaluation of the pleasantness of stimuli, as well as in regions related to the brain's 'resting state'. The more severe the sleeping problems of insomniacs, the less grey matter density they have in the region involved in pleasantness evaluation, which may also be important for the recognition of optimal comfort to fall asleep," explained Altena. She added, "Our group previously showed that insomniacs have difficulties with recognizing optimal comfort. These findings urge further investigation into the definition of subtypes of insomnia and their causal factors, for which we have now initiated the Netherlands Sleep Registry." You lose brain when you lose sleep! Here is the abstract Reduced O...

Here is another one to think about in the " barefoot is best " category. Scientists have found that those who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid "heel-striking," and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience. Read more here (or in the LA Times here ) "Our hope is that an evolutionary medicine approach to running and sports injury can help people run better for longer and feel better while they do it," says Lieberman, who has created a web site, www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu , to educate runners about the respective merits of shod and barefoot running." Here is the summary in Nature : Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years1, but the modern ru...

This is - or should be somewhat disturbing. Shorter telomere length is proposed as a marker for biological aging . They are also associated with more cancers . Again a danger to chronic cardio Skeletal muscle telomere length in healthy, experienced, endurance runners Abstract Measuring the DNA telomere length of skeletal muscle in experienced endurance runners may contribute to our understanding of the effects of chronic exposure to endurance exercise on skeletal muscle. This study compared the minimum terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length in the vastus lateralis muscle of 18 experienced endurance runners (mean age: 42 ± 7 years) to those of 19 sedentary individuals (mean age: 39 ± 10 years). The runners had covered almost 50,000 km in training and racing over 15 years. Minimum TRF lengths measured in the muscle of both groups were similar (P = 0.805) and within the normal range. Minimum TRF length in the runners, however, was inversely related to their years spent running (r = −...

I came across an interesting blog today: Methode Naturelle Disciple I've referred to Methode Naturelle before, an approach to fitness and physical cutlure that fits in well with the primal / evolutionary fitness approach. Erwan Le Corre - who I interviewed a year ago here - has been updating the approach recently to creat MovNat . (Incidentally Keith has some interesting thoughts on Erwan here - Probably an ideal body shape for an adult male in his 30s is shown in this YouTube video . We know it's ideal because of what the body is being used for - with power, poise, athleticism and novelty. 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 trai...

Just spotted this: A Randomized Trial of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet vs Orlistat Plus a Low-Fat Diet for Weight Loss Background Two potent weight loss therapies, a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (LCKD) and orlistat therapy combined with a low-fat diet (O + LFD), are available to the public but, to our knowledge, have never been compared. Methods Overweight or obese outpatients (n = 146) from the Department of Veterans Affairs primary care clinics in Durham, North Carolina, were randomized to either LCKD instruction (initially, Results The mean age was 52 years and mean body mass index was 39.3 (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); 72% were men, 55% were black, and 32% had type 2 diabetes mellitus. Of the study participants, 57 of the LCKD group (79%) and 65 of the O + LFD group (88%) completed measurements at 48 weeks. Weight loss was similar for the LCKD (expected mean change, –9.5%) and the O + LFD (–8.5%) (P = .60 for comparison) groups. The LCKD ...

Here is some homework for you. One of the best sites on the internet for those interested in Evolutionary fitness is Keith Thomas' Evfit.com I have an interview coming up with Keith. Do some preparation: go over to his site and get familiar with his material This is a typically instructive and challenging page from Keith: Keith's food intake in 2008

Anyone with an interest in Paleo Diet and Exercise should do themselves a favour and download Matt Metzgar's book Stone Age Power Matt has been writing and researching evolutionary fitness for years and is an original thinker who looks deeply into a lot of different subjects. While the book was first written in 2002 it has stood the test of time. A lot of people have come to the paleo approach quite recently but much wisdom is already out there and needs to be thought through. Matt reminds me a lot of Tamir Katz in his approach and integrity.

I've talked about joint mobility before. Most recently I have referred to the z health seminar I went to with mc . Here is another approach from Dutch Lowry It would be an exercise session in itself for many

This has been getting some attention the last week. Sitting down for too long 'causes health problems - even if you exercise' (Telegraph) Recent research suggests that inactivity increases the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease, independently of how often someone works out. One study found that that the chance of developing metabolic syndrome, a condition which can lead to diabetes, rose by 26 per cent for every extra hour a woman spent watching television, no matter how much exercise she took. Here is the review and more comment from Yahoo While health officials have issued guidelines recommending minimum amounts of physical activity, they haven't suggested people try to limit how much time they spend in a seated position. "After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals," Ekblom-Bak said. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down. Even for people who exercise, spending lon...

I was thinking more about the natural bodybuilding video I posted here. Keith commented on a later post and it got me thinking that his physique is actually the match of many of those natural bodybuilders. He isn't training for appearance but for health and performance. He eats a paleo diet and does intermittent fasting. His excellent physique is a by-product of his training, a consequence but not necessarily the ultimate goal. Here are some videos of Keith to show what I mean

I know this is ultimately advertising a certain brand of butter but whatever I am still a friend of butter .

Further to the Spark posts a few days ago, here is another study that exercise promotes brain health. This time it is not in mice (like this one was) but humans. Implication that training promotes brain health and could treat depression. Shame they didn't test resistance training. Endurance training enhances BDNF release from the human brain The circulating level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is reduced in patients with major depression and type-2 diabetes. Because acute exercise increases BDNF production in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, we hypothesized that endurance training would enhance the release of BDNF from the human brain as detected from arterial and internal jugular venous blood samples. In a randomized controlled study, 12 healthy sedentary males carried out 3 mo of endurance training (n = 7) or served as controls (n = 5). Before and after the intervention, blood samples were obtained at rest and during exercise. At baseline, the training group ...

While we are on the subject of bodybuilding I thought I'd point you to a new book from Rusty of Fitness Blackbook. (Rusty was one of the top fitness bloggers mentioned in the popular blog Zen Habits recently and he referred to this blog as one of his sources of information and inspiration which was very nice of him. This is returning the favour!) He has called the book Visual Impact . I have a copy and it is a good read and good value compared to some of the other stuff out there. The focus is very much on appearance - not the primal / evolutionary stuff I often feature. More of a "how to look like the guy off the front of Mens Fitness" and there are some interesting tips on diet to tweak appearance that I might try one day. The style is a lot like Rusty's excellent FREE report - The Vacation Body Blueprint - that I mentioned before . One of the things Rusty majors on in the book is the idea of avoiding building massive legs. After a basic level of devel...

hat tip. My interest in bodybuilding dwindled when I realised the influence of steroids. I saw friends grow massive on gear and I just stayed the same as a disillusioned natural! My story is similar to this one. What is instructive in this video is how "normal" a lot of these guys look. They look good, athletic but not huge.

After the stories this week on butter I set up a facebook group: Do not ban butter - it is a healthy fat! Feel free to join - I had this dream of a mass movement - like the one that got Rage Against The Machine to number one - with rational people across the internet banding together in the defence of butter..... Anyway, enough day dreaming. Join if you like. There are some interesting links posted to information about the healthiness of butter and saturated fat in general, e.g. the Weston Price Foundation leaflet - Butter is Better .

Pasta.....maybe not! Actually it may be better to go into exercise fasted, if you are trying to burn fat (technical term = lipolysis). Here is a study out today, which indicates that is you want to burn fat you should be going into exercise fasted or at least do not eat carbs within 2 hours. Sounds like another one for intermittent fasting enthusiasts. We have said all this before of course. If you were taking a primal / evolutionary fitness perspective on all this you would be likely to be exercising when fasted anyway, if that exercise is the effort involved in a hunt for food. Lots of people out there are exercising fasted now as described here . Effect of Carbohydrate- and Protein-rich Meals on Exercise-induced Activation of Lipolysis in Obese Subjects. Exercise is an important part of obesity treatment concepts to support fat mobilisation from adipose tissue and also fat oxidation nolich is impaired in obese subjects. In normal weight subjects it is well known that stimulati...

Bolt in winning that went at about 28mph. A new study says that theoretically humans could go at 40mph! Human Running Speeds of 35 to 40 Mph May Be Biologically Possible The researchers said the new work shows that running speed limits are set by the contractile speed limits of the muscle fibers themselves, with fiber contractile speeds setting the limit on how quickly the runner's limb can apply force to the running surface. "Our simple projections indicate that muscle contractile speeds that would allow for maximal or near-maximal forces would permit running speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour and conceivably faster," Bundle said. Here is the abstract: The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up Running speed is limited by a mechanical interaction between the stance and swing phases of the stride. Here, we tested whether stance phase limitations are imposed by ground force maximums or foot-ground contact time minimums. We selected one-legged hopp...

Obese patients 'encouraged to put on weight to qualify for surgery' This is sick. Why the heck is the NHS spending money on this anyway? I know the arguments that it is not their fault (they are victims) and that obesity causes lots of healthy problems (e.g. cancer ) but surely there is no need to operate?

This guy is a hero. I mentioned the nutty doctor who wants to Ban Butter ! This fellow took some direct action! Read the whole story Dr. Shyan Kolvekar was reported widely calling to ban butter and Britain’s Food Standards Agency is conducting a campaign against saturated fats, even though the evidence shows that the artificial fats in margarine and vegetable oils cause heart disease, in partnership with refined sugar and white flour, which confuse the liver into producing harmful fats. So I decided to confront the bureaucrats directly and hand out Butter is Better flyers to the hospital where Dr. Kolvekar works. The printers seem to have supported me, because I asked for 300 flyers, and they printed well over 1000. The stack was 4 inches at least and it took me 14 hours to get rid of them. I left the hospital after they issued me a retraction, distancing themselves from his comments and I then moved onto the Food Standards Agency, blitzing them with hundreds of flyers for seven who...

At one level this one comes under the heading of " obvious "! On another level it is worth reminding the world that everyday exercise - walking, cycling etc - has a substantial effect. Many people would do well simply to walk more like Nassim . We are meant to walk. As Kurt says: 7) Walking is an excellent evolutionary activity that we are, simply, evolved to do and doing it is nothing but good. I agree with Sisson on this - lots of low intensity rythmic activity can be good. Anyway here is the study abstract Aerobic fitness and mode of travel to school in english schoolchildren. CONCLUSIONS:: These data confirm findings from countries where cycling is very common in showing that cycling to school is positively associated with aerobic fitness. This study adds to the existing literature by showing that walkers and cyclists are more likely to be classified as fit using recognized cut points. Those who walk and cycle to school may, therefore, be at reduced risk for developing ...

Maybe. It is one more reason to train anyway. My Dad has had a series of strokes recently and so I am interested in anything that might limit damage. Exercise Preconditioning Reduces Neuronal Apoptosis in Stroke by Up-regulating HSP-70 (HSP-72) and ERK 1/2. Exercise preconditioning induces neuroprotection after stroke......Our results indicate that exercise diminishes neuronal injury in stroke by up-regulating HSP-70 and ERK 1/2.

Wow this is interesting : a natural immune defence system is linked directly to the metabolic status via the insulin signalling pathway. ....in the case of a low insulin level the FOXO transcription factor is activated. .... FOXO switches genes for immune defence proteins on when energy is needed. These antimicrobial peptides (AMP) - not to be confused with antibodies – are subsequently jettisoned by the body's cells. They destroy possible pathogens by dissolving their cell walls. 'This hap pens every minute every day,' the director of studies Prof. Michael Hoch ......explains. ' What is fascinating about this is that a function of the immune system directly depends on how much and what we eat .' In situations of hunger which mean stress for the body cells, the body releases antimicrobial peptides as a precaution in order to protect itself. 'The barrier between body and outside world is apparently fortified in a potentially dangerous situation in which we have t...

Ok I am extrapolating, but at least cut back on the carbs. Hat tip to Stephan (a true hero of the blogs ) for pointing this out. The paper that I mentioned here - intake of saturated fat is not associated with coronary heart disease, stroke or cardiovascular disease - had an interesting teaser in the conclusion: More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat It looks like there is a follow up: Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease A focus of dietary recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and treatment has been a reduction in saturated fat intake, primarily as a means of lowering LDL-cholesterol concentrations. However, the evidence that supports a reduction in saturated fat intake must be evaluated in the context of replacement by other macronutrients. Clinical trials that replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat have generally shown a reduction in C...

Frank is a great guy - interviewed here . Exuberant Animal presents a partner resist -fitness session at their 2009 East Coast weekend seminar, held at the Gerstung Intersport Center in Baltimore, MD, USA. Partner resist methods use one or more human partners to provide the resistance that dumbbells, barbells, stretch bands, or other fitness equipment provide - but with more innovation, fun, and extensibility. This is a group-fitness or teambuilding experience that no one will ever forget - and may want to do on a regular basis! For more information on health seminars, workshops, or even to become part of the team, visit the Exuberant Animal website .

This follows on from the Spark posts . I saw this in the Guardian today: Start running and watch your brain grow, say scientists Neuroscientists at Cambridge University have shown that running stimulates the brain to grow fresh grey matter and it has a big impact on mental ability. A few days of running led to the growth of hundreds of thousands of new brain cells that improved the ability to recall memories without confusing them, a skill that is crucial for learning and other cognitive tasks, researchers said. The new brain cells appeared in a region that is linked to the formation and recollection of memories. The work reveals why jogging and other aerobic exercise can improve memory and learning, and potentially slow down the deterioration of mental ability that happens with old age. Shame they weren't looking at resistance training too. Here is the Telegraph version

That sounds simple, but to me that is what this study is saying. Interestigly too this approach seems to normalise weight - if you are fat you lose weight, if you are normal you stay that weight. Natural. Just wait until you feel the hunger.....then eat. If you are not hungry don't eat. Sustained self-regulation of energy intake. Loss of weight in overweight subjects. Maintenance of weight in normal-weight subjects Background Dietary restraint is largely unsuccessful for controlling obesity. As an alternative, subjects can easily be trained to reliably recognize sensations of initial hunger (IH) a set of physiological sensations which emerge spontaneously, not necessarily at planned mealtimes, and may be the afferent arm of a homeostatic system of food intake regulation. Previously we have reported that IH is associated with blood glucose concentration (BG) below 81.8 mg/dL (4.55 mmol/l),(low blood glucose, LBG), and that a pattern of meals in which IH is present pre-meal (IHMP...

One minute we get a metanalysis published in a quality journal saying that intake of [more] saturated fat was NOT associated with an increased risk of CHD [coronary heart disease], stroke, or CVD [cardiovascular disease]. Then we get lunatics saying Ban Butter! The story in the Telegraph is laughable: "It's because most kids start the day with some toast and butter, it's a staple of breakfast, but not very good for you." FAIL - most kids do not eat butter but have a dodgy margarine anyway or cereal and semiskimmed milk "People should also avoid any foods that are solid at room temperature like cheese and red meat." FAIL - yeah, avoid solid food like pasta, vegetables and bread. Stick to liquids like cream." People are fixated on saturated fat...but the evidence says that it does no harm.....and actually does a lot of good! Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease Backg...

from the reliable Ross Enamait I still think his Full Throttle Conditioning Package is one of the best texts out there.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned this book which had been mentioned by Frank Forencich . The book came to me from Amazon a week or so ago and I've been skimming it before reading through properly. It is about the way in which exercise improves your mental performance, memory and psychological well-being. The focus is on aerobic exercise - because that is where the research is - but he does mention benefits from resistance training. Anyway, what I found interesting was Ratey's prescription for exercise, which is pretty similar to Art Devany's position or indeed to the routine that Nassim Taleb wrote about. This is what Ratey says in his chapter "The Regimen": Today, of course, there's no need to forage and hunt to survive. Yet our genes are coded for this activity, and our brains are meant to direct it. Take that activity away, and you're disrupting a delicate biological balance that has been fine-tuned over half a million years......The ancient rhythm...

Hat tip to Rachel's IF blog This is a guy who has lost 56lb over a year by using Eat Stop Eat style intermittent fasting - i.e., 2 24 hour fasts a week, with all else staying the same....no dieting. So many of the IF blogs and testimonies feature spectacular athletes, so it is interesting to see a normal fella losing significant weight. Incidentally I could tell just by looking at this guy that he was from the north of England. Sure enough, when you listen to his You Tube videos he is from Yorkshire. Brad Pillon's Eat Stop Eat is a sound approach Anyway, the guy is Dave Ward and his blog is here .

I featured Crystal West last week . Here is another one from her My name is Crystal West and I am 44 years old. In this video I do one pull-up with 75 pounds added on.

Now this is absolutely fascinating. You can improve at a skill through mental visualisation - that has been shown before, but here is a new study. Mental imagery training can make you more flexible. mental imagery training resulted in selective increased flexibility, independently of stretching .... Psychological and physiological effects of motor imagery could explain the increase in range of motion, suggesting that imagery enhances joint flexibility during both active and passive stretching. The mind is so important to the body! We are back to Z again maybe. Does motor imagery enhance stretching and flexibility? Although several studies have demonstrated that motor imagery can enhance learning processes and improve motor performance, little is known about its effect on stretching and flexibility. The increased active and passive range of motion reported in preliminary research has not been shown to be elicited by motor imagery training alone. We thus compared flexibility scores...

Ok I know this is monkeys, but it is still interesting (but not really new) Put monkeys on a diet and they do not lose weight because their activity levels fall to balance the reduction in food calories in. The body defends against weight loss from a diet by doing less. Eat less and you will do less? The other side of this is the position Taubes takes - do more and you end up eating more anyway. ( Especially with a calorie bomb recovery shake! ) Also note that it was a low fat diet - I wonder what the macros were for it? Often you find lab chow to be real junk - lots and lots of sugar and PUFA. This is actually a rather depressing study the implication being that if you want to lose weight then you must: run on a treadmill for 1 hr/day, 5 days/week at 80% maximal capacity Honestly it does't have to be that hard. (Remember Martin ) There is a more natural way ! A Rapidly Occurring Compensatory Decrease in Physical Activity Counteracts Diet-Induced Weight Loss in Female Monkeys...

An interesting study here, Sticking to Diets Is About More Than Willpower -- Complexity Matters Many people think the success of dieting, seemingly a national obsession following the excesses and resolutions of the holiday season, depends mostly on how hard one tries -- on willpower and dedication. While this does matter, new research has found that a much more subtle aspect of the diets themselves can also have a big influence on the pounds shed -- namely, the perceived complexity of a diet plan's rules and requirements. Regardles of the hormonal effects, it is easier to stick to simple diets, with simple rules. How about " Eat Real Food " or " Eat food, as much as you like, mostly animals ", or " Meat Leaves and Berries ". Here is the abstract: When weight management lasts: Lower perceived rule complexity increases adherence Maintaining behavior change is one of the major challenges in weight management and long-term weight loss. We investigated the...

Here is an extract from a great post from Martin Berkhan * Never attempt to train yourself into a calorie deficit. Don't spend hours on the treadmill. Diet comes first, cardio second. The dumbest fat loss strategy ever devised is used by people that go up early in the morning to do cardio and follow that up with "recovery shake". Congratulations, you just wasted two hours of your life. Next time, skip the shake and the cardio. Sleep two hours longer, but skip breakfast and fast until lunch time. You'll be much better off that way. * Intermittent fasting is an easy way to create a calorie deficit; your "cardio" is to stay productive during the fast and work. If you don't have a job, work on projects that are important to you. Learn. Read books. Write. Don't sit around and brood about your diet or what you have in the fridge. Check out Martin's blog , or to learn more about intermittent fasting I always recommend the research of Brad Pillon .

I've been reading Zen Habits for a good while and have enjoyed Leo Babauta's book - the Power of Less . I was therefore over the moon to find myself mentioned on the blog as a good fitness site, recommended by Mark Sisson , Rusty Moore and Mike O’Donnell. Thanks guys! Zen Habits is a popular blog and this was the impact on my stats of getting mentioned there: I think this is a fairly modest blog in which I just record bit and pieces that I find interesting or motivating and it is very gratifying to see that it is so well appreciated. Thanks for the support.

So if you are dehydrated - 3% body mass loss - there will be: impaired resistance exercise performance, decreased repetitions, increased perceived exertion, and hindered HR recovery. Makes water into a performance enhancer! Impact of dehydration on a full body resistance exercise protocol This study examined effects of dehydration on a full body resistance exercise workout. Ten males completed two trials: heat exposed (with 100% fluid replacement) (HE) and dehydration (~3% body mass loss with no fluid replacement) (DEHY) achieved via hot water bath (~39°C). Following HE and DEHY, participants performed three sets to failure (using predetermined 12 repetition maximum) of bench press, lat pull down, overhead press, barbell curl, triceps press, and leg press with a 2-min recovery between each set and 2 min between exercises. A paired t test showed total repetitions (all sets combined) were significantly lower for DEHY: (144.1 ± 26.6 repetitions) versus HE: (169.4 ± 29.1 repetitions). AN...

I occasionally have stuff here on sleep. Sufficient sleep in the dark is a "good thing". I also occasionally point to stuff from the blog Open Water Chicago where they take something of a paleo approach to diet and training....anyway these two come together today: Open Water Chicago has a sister blog: Neuroscene Body Clocks: The Consequences of Disrupting Our Circadian Rhythms We’ve all heard about our “ sleep clocks .” But were you aware that we have numerous such clocks all over our bodies – and that disruption of these clocks can have serious health and emotional consequences? In this podcast, we speak with Dr. Ilia Karatsoreos of Rockefeller University who recently conducted a study on how the disruption of circadian rhythms can adversely affect our metabolism as well as our higher level cognitive functioning . Be sure to listen in as we discuss the science of body clocks and how important is to keep them “in sync.”