Conditioning Research

Late back from work on Wednesday night it felt too late to cook but I wanted something so I opened a can of coconut milk.  Lovely.   Within 15 minutes my gut was bubbling.   In the middle of the night  - 3am - I got up and had an explosive liquid shit.  Fantastic.  Final dribble first thing in the morning...... Interesting listening the next day to the superb  Paleo-Nerd-A-Thon! podcast with Robb Wolf, Matt Lalonde and Chris Kresser,  Matt mentioend that some people struggle to tolerate coconut milk, not due to the milk itself but the guar gum ingredient which is a legume. Time to check the labels more closely in future.

once work quietens down after these elections , I am looking forward to getting back to training with Krav Maga Edinburgh

Interesting little abstract here in that the implication is that it is not about exercise per se but about the dangers of inactivity. Lack of regular physical exercise or too much inactivity. PURPOSE To discuss the current data that acute periods of physical inactivity are harmful to health. RECENT FINDINGS: Bed rest prescribed for recovery from clinical conditions causes changes in thousands of mRNAs in leg muscles within days. Humans genetically more susceptible to metabolic disorders (low birth weight babies and type 2 diabetic offspring) are as, or more, susceptible to further metabolic dysfunction by the environmental perturbation of bed rest, as compared with healthy controls without these risk factors. High daily accumulations of sitting are not only associated with enhanced metabolic risk, but current findings report that increased sitting time leads to a reduction in insulin sensitivity. Reductions in walking or in ambulatory activity (lower step numbers taken by healt...

CrossFit Huntington Beach Interview with Coach Tony Blauer from Tony Blauer on Vimeo . via Brian Really good stuff in there about avoiding complex motor skills in self defence

Does anyone have access to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association?  Looks like they have an interesting feature  on Fat this month: The Great Fat Debate: A Closer Look at the Controversy—Questioning the Validity of Age-Old Dietary Guidance

For those of us with an interest in fasting - like the 2 Meal Solution for example -will find this interesting.  I've pointed in the past  ( here and here ) to studies that indicate that fasting might be a good tactic in caner treatment. Fasting vs dietary restriction in cellular protection and cancer treatment: from model organisms to patients. The dietary recommendation for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, as described by the American Cancer Society, is to increase calorie and protein intake. Yet, in simple organisms, mice, and humans, fasting-no calorie intake-induces a wide range of changes associated with cellular protection, which would be difficult to achieve even with a cocktail of potent drugs. In mammals, the protective effect of fasting is mediated, in part, by an over 50% reduction in glucose and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) levels. Because proto-oncogenes function as key negative regulators of the protective changes induced by fasting, cells e...

Paul Chek can be completely barmy, but he knows his stuff.  Here he is on core strength when lifting

I am still thinking through the material for the Hillfit series I am writing for TGO.  One of the topics is the skill of walking.  For this I think there is a lot to learn from POSE.  We know of POSE mainly from running style   but they also have an approach to walking: Walking in this case is no different from running. Despite the fact that in walking we always have a ground contact with one or two feet we still need to fall forward in order to move forward and change the support during falling from one leg to the other. So our speed of walking depends on the degree of falling (leaning forward, which is the degree of deviation of the GCM of the body from the point of support) and the frequency of changing supports (stride frequency). The following premises basically define the major requirements to efficient walking technique. Fall forward only from the ball of the foot. Don’t push off with the support leg or foot. Keep knees very slightly bent or just not ...

An interesting abstract for you: Change in Food Cravings, Food Preferences, and Appetite During a Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diet.

While I think such long life is probably just a Black Swan, random thing, I thought this was interesting: World's oldest man dies at 114 - Walter Breuning was born in 1896 and put his longevity down to eating just two meals a day and working for as long as he could Sounds like the 2 meal solution works....

I love Robb Wolf's paleo solution podcasts. I have listened to them all. Every week downloading it and listening on my way to and from work on Tuesday or Wednesday as soon as I get it. But sometimes I wonder if there is anything left for them to say. Still I always look forward to listening to them (and still miss Andy Deas) >So Dude, what's happening? >>Hey the sun is shining in Chico! I'm stoked! Sweet. What a gig man.   >You been busy? >>Rollin on the mat with some jits, learning some MovNat with Erwan. Actually speaking now from a motel in DC where I am doing a seminar with Xfit. Had a great time. Bit of a gluten hit in a restaurant but over it now. Tired man, dragging my sorry butt through this. >Wow man. Legit. Any more work on the website? >>Amber is developing a new interactive approach - we are transcribing the old podcasts and then Andy D will read them personally to you in your car as you drive to work. It wi...

Just spotted this abstract yesterday A comparison of normal versus low dietary carbohydrate intake on substrate oxidation during and after moderate intensity exercise in women. We compared the effects of consuming a 2-day low-carbohydrate (CHO) diet (low-CHO; 20% CHO, 40% protein, 40% fat) versus an isocaloric 2-day moderate-CHO diet (mod-CHO; 55% CHO, 15% protein, 30% fat) on substrate oxidation during and after exercise in ten active, young women. Subjects were 24.9 ± 6.2% body fat with a VO(2max) of 68.8 ± 13.8 ml/kg FFM/min. For 2 days prior to exercise, subjects consumed either the mod-CHO or the low-CHO diet and then completed treadmill exercise at 55% of VO(2max) until 350 kcal of energy was expended. During exercise and for 2 h post-exercise, expired gases were analyzed to determine oxidation rates for CHO (CHO-OX) and fat (FAT-OX). Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between diets for CHO-OX and FAT-OX (mg/kg FFM/min) during exercise, 1 h post-ex, and 2 ...

Inspirational video from the boys and girls at Elite Fitness Systems

I just wanted to point to a couple of interesting stories I'd come across about telomeres.  The first was on the consistently excellent Perfect Health Diet:  Paul talks about What Telomeres Tell Us About Human Disease   It is a fascinating post. At the same time, I also saw this in Scientific American, My, What Long Telomeres You Have   Telomeres are caps on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them much as plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces keep the laces from fraying. Whenever chromosomes—the store houses of our genes—are replicated in preparation for cell division, their telomeres shorten. That shrinking has led many scientists to view telomere length as a marker of biological aging, a “molecular” clock ticking off the cell’s life span, as well as an indicator of overall health. Studies comparing the telomere length of white blood cells among groups of volunteers show distinct correlations between telomere length and lifestyle. Those who exercise regula...

Here is another one for the barefoot supporters. Oxygen Cost of Running Barefoot vs. Running Shod ..............For the overground and treadmill conditions, recorded VO2 while running shod was 5.7% and 2.0% higher than running barefoot. It was concluded that at 70% of vVO2max pace, barefoot running is more economical than running shod, both overground and on a treadmill. There is something more efficient about being barefoot.......talk about economical, you don't even ned to buy shoes!

......or they will never burn fat! Carbohydrate intake reduces fat oxidation during exercise in obese boys. .........carbohydrate (CHO) intake attenuates whole body fat oxidation during exercise in healthy children and may suppress fat metabolism in obese youth. ............. CHO intake markedly suppresses fat oxidation during exercise in obese boys. True for the rest of us too.

I spotted this one today. Periodic Fasting Improves Blood Lipids More support for the benefits of intermittent fasting (like the 2 Meal Solution or Eat Stop Eat )

My job is really busy at the moment (hence the sporadic and rare posts).  I am working late most nights - and have been for a couple of months -  so I have not been able to get along to the regular Krav Maga classes that I attend ( Krav Maga Edinburgh ).  This is what I am missing.  I know most of these moves already and already have grade 1, but I miss the classes and the laughs.

Iceland’s Benedikt Magnusson smashed the world deadlift record on Saturday at MHP’s Kings of the Bench V & Clash of the Titans IV.  He made an incredibly easy looking pull of 460kg (1015lbs), performed raw, (well he used a belt but no suit). I bet that activated his glutes . He is the second man in history to break through the 1000lb barrier after Andy Bolton pulled 1008.9lb in 2009