Conditioning Research

(apologies for any offense to the Irish). Here is one for Brad Pilon Nice joke on Intermittent Fasting: An Irishman was very overweight, and so his doctor put him on a diet. "I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for 2 weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least 5 pounds. When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60lbs! "Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said, "Did you follow my instructions?" The Irishman nodded..."I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I were going to drop dead on dat 3rd day." "From the hunger, you mean?" asked the doctor. "No, from all the bloody skippin"

Here is another interview, this time with Fred Fornicola , owner of Premiere Personal Fitness and co-author of Dumbbell Training for Strength And Fitness an excellent little book. Fred, I first came across you due to your book on dumbbell training and then seeing you as a regular commenter on the Body by Science blog , but can you give my readers a short introduction to yourself? Who are you and what is your background in exercise? Well Chris, my name is Fred Fornicola and I’ ve been involved in training and fitness since I was about 15. I own and operate Premiere Personal Fitness in Asbury Park, New Jersey ( Chris - there is a video of the gym here ) . I’m a fitness professional, personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, fitness consultant, lifestyle fitness coach, as well as a published author. I’ ve been involved in the field of strength and fitness for over 34 years. I was one of the contributing authors of the book Get Fit New Jersey! and co-authored the bes...

I had a couple of posts on this a while ago - Get your greens and Exercise in the outdoors - but I spotted this bit of news that says the same thing: Forests -- and other natural, green settings -- can reduce stress, improve moods, reduce anger and aggressiveness and increase overall happiness. Forest visits may also strengthen our immune system by increasing the activity and number of natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells. Many studies show that after stressful or concentration-demanding situations, people recover faster and better in natural environments than in urban settings. Blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension and the level of "stress hormones" all decrease faster in natural settings. Depression, anger and aggressiveness are reduced in green environments and ADHD symptoms in children reduce when they play in green settings. A nice excuse of one of my photos of the Highlands anyway.

Story here . (via Bob P )

Matt has pulled together a good page on barefoot running. Definitely worth a careful read. The Evolutionary Correct Guide to Running I am totally in agreement about some of these points, especially posture and walk breaks which are linked. I often see joggers run past with awful posture, bent over, shuffling along. To me one thing that stands out from them is that they do not look fit....they look by their very posture and stance to be damaged. Body language would mark them out as weak, and lacking in "pride" and confidence. They do not look like they could defend themselves. They look like prey....not hunters! I want fitness to by accompanied by a stance that expresses health and confidence. The bent over shuffle doesn't do that. I'd rather people walked with confidence and pride than shuffled along looking tired and broken down. If yo are too tired to run with decent posture and style then walk for a while!

Last year Drew Baye pointed to a long article called The Myth of Core Stability . It is an interesting read amid all the current fashions of training. Part of the conclusion was as follows: Weak or dysfunctional abdominal muscles will not lead to back pain Tensing the trunk muscles is unlikely to provide any protection against back pain or reduce the recurrence of back pain.Core stability exercises are no more effective than, and will not prevent injury more than, any other forms of exercise. Core stability exercises are no better than other forms of exercise in reducing chronic lower back pain. I think there is definite value in targeted and tailored prehab and rehab work of the sort I sometimes point to - e.g. as discussed by Colin - but that article did get me thinking. I thought of it again when I saw this: Effects of Traditional Sit-up Training Versus Core Stabilization Exercises on Short-Term Musculoskeletal Injuries in US Army Soldiers: A Cluster Randomized Trial. Backgroun...

High-intensity exercise and carbohydrate-reduced energy-restricted diet in obese individuals Fourteen days of carbohydrate-reduced diet improved Oral glucose insulin sensitivity (OGIS) and fat oxidation (RER) in obese subjects. Looks interesting.

Possibly..... Proteomic Analysis for Antiobesity Potential of Capsaicin on White Adipose Tissue in Rats Fed with a High Fat Diet the scientists fed high-fat diets with or without capsaicin to lab rats used to study obesity. The capsaicin-treated rats lost 8 percent of their body weight and showed changes in levels of at least 20 key proteins found in fat. The altered proteins work to break down fats. (also here )

Muscular heart failure patients may have a better chance at survival ......research found that having more muscle was associated with better nutritional status and lower severity of heart failure, while higher body fat was associated with increased inflammation and reduced exercise capacity. This suggests that in patients with heart failure having more muscle mass and lower fat may be beneficial. The study also discovered that testing just the body mass index (BMI) of heart failure patients doesn't accurately measure their body fat status. Oreopoulos found 41 per cent of the participants were inaccurately classified by BMI. Many who had a high body weight but not high body fat were mislabelled as obese and others who did not weigh a lot but had a high amount of body fat were mislabelled as normal by BMI.

indeed.....get out and play kids: Diet vs exercise for the prevention of pediatric obesity: the role of exercise As pediatric obesity is commonly viewed as the result of an excessively positive energy balance, preventive efforts typically emphasize reduction of energy intake, with increases in physical activity (PA) having a supporting role. However, recent research that has focused on body composition rather than weight has found that PA stimulates development of lean tissue rather than fat tissue. Preventive interventions that emphasize vigorous PA rather than restriction of energy intake can help youths to develop lean bodies, at the same time that they ingest sufficient amounts of the energy and accompanying nutrients needed for healthy growth. of course diet is important too .....

This is an interesting paper just published (the whole thing is available as a pdf ). It really challenges some of the more generally accepted ideas about weight loss. For example it challenges the ideas that: you can easily lose weight by being in calorie deficit it is always healthier to lose weight There is a danger of a fat acceptance idea in there to watch out for and I think they miss the obvious that a low carb / paleo diet might addresses some of their points (i.e., it is not about calorie deficit but food quality). Still, it is worth reading. Validity of claims made in weight management research: a narrative review of dietetic articles The best available evidence demonstrates that conventional weight management has a high long-term failure rate. The ethical implications of continued reliance on an energy deficit approach to weight management are under-explored.

Ok this is a first for this blog.....a competition. By accident ( doh! ) I ordered 2 copies of this book from Amazon. Rather than return one, I thought I'd offer it as a prize to the readers of this blog. There are no hard questions to answer, no quizes.... The rules: You must be a follower of this blog : just click on the follow button on the right hand side of this blog. Leave a comment on this post On 1 August, I will use a random number generator to pick one of those commenters - at random obviously - to win the book. I will then send you a message via the Google Follower system and get your address to send the book.

There is an interesting video on wrist health over at the Performance Menu The file is here . I was going to post it on the blog but it was a bit too big

I often see my pal Colin when I need some kinks working out of my back. As a body worker - massage with some of Tom Myer's Anatomy Trains approaches - he really know his stuff. He is currently using facebook to post interesting bits and pieces of remedial exercises and ideas on injury treatment. Go over to his page on facebook , and click "like" so that you can keep up with the stuff he is writing. (Also visit his blog ) Here is the latest post (which accurately describes my back problems!): When I get a new client one of the more common problem areas they come to me with will be their lower back. There’s also a pretty good chance that they spend most of the day sitting down so the source of the problem can, in some respects, be easy to identify. [ edit - by the way there is an interesting piece on sitting here ] Aside from poor posture and its associated problems one of the biggest contributory factors are the gluteals and gluteus medius in particular. When we a...

I think I've said before that I love Barry Groves .... Wise Traditions UK - Barry Groves from Wise Traditions UK on Vimeo . You are what you eat? No you should eat what you are designed to eat..... The Slides are here (thanks to Fred Hahn for pointing this out)

This is buzzing round the blogs at the moment (e.g. read Kurt ) but it is something that needs to be promoted so I'll do my bit. Please read this: The China Study: Fact or Fallacy? Denise Minger has analysed the data on which Campbell based his book The China Study in which, to quote wikipedia, the authors conclude: that diets high in animal protein (including casein in cow's milk) are strongly linked to diseases such as heart disease , cancer, and Type 2 diabetes . Denise has gone back to the data and analysed it herself......and the conclusions are a bit different from those that Campbell arrived at. In sum, “The China Study” is a compelling collection of carefully chosen data. Unfortunately for both health seekers and the scientific community, Campbell appears to exclude relevant information when it indicts plant foods as causative of disease, or when it shows potential benefits for animal products. This presents readers with a strongly misleading interpretation of the orig...

Link between inactivity and obesity queried Of course others have said such heresy too, like Gary Taubes or Kurt As Taubes said: This is not to say that there aren’t excellent reasons to be physically active, as these reports invariably point out. We might just enjoy exercise. We may increase our overall fitness; we may live longer, perhaps by reducing our risk of heart disease or diabetes; we’ll probably feel better about ourselves. (Of course, this may be purely a cultural phenomenon. It’s hard to imagine that the French, for instance, would improve their self-esteem by spending more time at the gym.) But there’s no reason to think that we will lose any significant amount of weight, and little reason to think we will prevent ourselves from gaining it.

Maybe. I must admit I think there may be particular benefits to fermented food , but the research is still inconclusive. The study to investigate the potential benefits of probiotics in yogurt, a patient-oriented, double-blind, cluster-randomised, placebo-controlled, clinical trial Conclusions : Consumption of a yogurt-based drink delivering 1010 CFU of Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. lactis (B. lactis) BB-12 per day did not decrease the number of days missed of school due to an illness. Additional independent research on the potential of BB-12 to reduce illness in children needs to be conducted.

So, stretching doesn't stretch the muscle....it just makes you more tolerant of stretching? Six weeks of sustained 30-min daily stretch does not increase the extensibility of the hamstring muscle of healthy individuals. It does, however, improve stretch tolerance leading to increased joint range of motion without any actual improvements in muscle extensibility. Regular stretch does not increase muscle extensibility

This raised a smile. Men are prepared to eat more healthily......but don't push it! Given up booze or eating more vegetables is taking it all a bit too seriously Men participating in a weight-loss intervention are able to implement key dietary messages, but not those relating to vegetables or alcohol: the Self-Help, Exercise and Diet using Internet Technology (SHED-IT) study. CONCLUSIONS : Although men reported some positive dietary changes during weight loss, they did not increase vegetable intakes nor decrease alcohol consumption, while saturated fat, fibre and Na intakes still exceeded national targets. Future interventions for men should promote specific food-based guidelines to target improvements in their diet-related risk factor profile for chronic diseases.

I'm not sure what to make of this one. Massage impairs postexercise muscle blood flow and “lactic Acid” removal The implication is that postexercise massage of the swedish - effleurage and pétrissage - style is not to be advised. The bodywork that I get is generally not post-exercise for the purpose of recovery. Rather it is trying to address specific spasms, cramps, trigger points or problem movement patterns.

More good stuff from Bill He is outlining what he will be speaking about at Anthony's 21 Convention in Orlando Florida. Bill speaks July 25th .

This is crazy.....a 605lb squat.....with no hands (obviously not recommended and a recipe for disaster....but impressive none the less) No wonder the guy jumps for joy....seriously this is proper explosive power for a big guy Hat tip to Colin .

he makes this 716lb squat look so easy: Then a huge deadlift (925lb)

Interesting Sleep and Brain Energy Levels: ATP Changes during Sleep .

This follows on a bit from the post on Tuesday There is a discussion of all this stuff over here with some other helpful videos

Hat tip to Mark Young (who found it here ) The girl is a US bobsled competitor - Emily Azevedo .

Pretty inspirational rehab

Now I don't think cholesterol is evil... in fact I am a fan ....but spotted this the other day. I have not had much up here about intermittent fasting / IF for a while. (For those interested I like both Brad Pilon and Martin Berkhan 's approaches). Anyway, this report indicates that fasting prompts an enzyme that turns off the body's generation of fats and cholesterol. As I said I don't think dietary cholesterol is a problem, and I'd disagree with some of the stuff in the article about a high fat diet, but this is an interesting finding for those who practice intermittent fasting. When Food Intake Stops, Enzyme Turns Off Production of Fats, Cholesterol "This study is significant because it explains the signals that tell the body to burn fat in response to fasting or dieting," says David Sinclair, PhD, a professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) who helped discover the genes that code for sirtuins but was not involved with this MGH-led stu...