Conditioning Research

Part 1 Part 2 Art DeVany has long been an inspiration and had worked out most of the Paleo stuff years ago. Plus he is tough....

from Anthony Johnson's 21 Convention (I interviewed Bill here ) you can buy all these on DVD as well

This is superb.  Kelly Starret talking about sitting.

As I said in the last post , I am just back from a week hillwalking in the Highlands.  I've been spending some time writing up the week's walks on my other blog - Cairn in the Mist - where I record my walks and more. Looking to Skye The other thing going on is the articles that I am writing for TGO magazine - a UK backpacking and hillwalking magazine.  The series is called Hillfit and I am trying to apply the sort of paleo / evolutionary fitness stuff that we talk about here to a more mainstream audience.  It is quite a struggle to translate these ideas into something that actually reads well as a stand alone introductory article.  I know that there is something overarching, a meta narrative (effectively the primal blueprint ), but I am not sure that this is coming across in the articles. The first one was an introduction to the philosophy.  The second - yet to be published  - was on interval training, mentioning Gibala's research and explaning how ...

I've been away in the hills for the last week, enjoying a holiday in the Northwest Highlands.  That is me in the photo below. Absolutely stunning views in the company of Steven Fallon .

I am never quite sure what I think of Eric Cobb's Z health ( mc is a big fan and I enjoyed her seminar )  Anyway, I just spotted this free 34 page pdf from him that looks worth the read.  I find his thoughts on the threat response and the arthrokinetic reflex really fascinating. 21st Century Strength: Brain-Based Training for Power Athletes.

from the missing human manual (this is one of the 55 theses )

I had a good session with Colin ( Edinburgh Deep Tissue Massage ) last night.  After working out some kinks in my legs, neck and hip flexors he was checking out my squat pattern. One of the thing he was getting me to work on was keeping the knees out and really squatting down between my legs, rather than just sitting back.  He explained that one of the keys was to keep the feet from collapsing to maintain the proper angle at the ankle.  Interesting and challenging. Kelly Starret explains similar principles and Dan John explains the goblet squat in the same terms: ....people discover at this moment ... a basic physiological fact: The legs are not stuck like stilts under the torso. Rather, the torso is slung between the legs. As you go down, leaning back with arms straight, you'll discover one of the true keys of lifting: you squat between your legs. You don't fold and unfold like an accordion; you sink between your legs. Don't just sit and read this. Get up and ...

I  have mentioned the Hillfit pieces that I am working on.  Thay have got me studying a varirty of interesting things as background for the different articles.  For example, Keith Norris post the other days got me reading things about the theories around muscle hypertrophy.  Keith pointed to a fascinating study ( abstract ) which Tom Kelso summarised here . Anyway that is not the point. The complexities of that got me thinking.  Exercise science is complicated.  As you delve deeper into the biology of it all things get ever more complex.  Metabolism and the cell biology is deep and difficult but also wonderful ( check out this video )  Muscle growth is driven by mechanical loading of the muscle, metabolic stress and muscle damage / trauma.  The precise pathways get more and more complex the deeper you look. However sometimes I wonder how much you need to understand.   In the afterword to Art Devany's book Nassim Taleb talks...

I've already mentioned that I have got a monthly column in a UK hillwalking / backpacking  magazine - TGO It is called Hillfit.  I will share some of the ideas here occaisionally.  The paradigm that I am promoting is: A template – the Hillfit Paradigm There is science behind what I recommend, but be aware that the same data can be interpreted differently depending on the presumptions of the reader. I will present a paradigm through which to view the data, to make sense of what you see. Let’s apply a “template”: “Hillfit” : minimal, foundational and functional. Minimal – getting the maximum effect from a minimum investment of time and effort. Most of us have jobs and families. Time and money are precious. We will be efficient. Foundational – What are we built for? How were we designed to move? Looking from the perspective of our ancestors, who for example would have walked or run but rarely jogged, many fitness programmes are too regimented and use “unnat...

Almost a year ago now you might remember that I interviewed Fred Fornicola.  Fred is a great guy - straight forward, not bound by dogma but interested in what works to get results for the average person. He has been around the training world for some time now and has begun to reflect a little on the lessons that those years of traning have taught him.  Rather than just sit there and think about these things, Fred has recorded his experiences into a useful little book that is highly recommended. In  “Strength and Fitness for a Lifetime: How We Train Now” - Fred has brought together a series of short interviews with a group of strength coaches and trainers generally in their 40's and 50's to detail their : goals; approach; training schedule; and sample workouts. We often get bowled over by impressive routines on fancy websites and it is refreshing to see some basic information from guys that have been training successfully for years....AND ARE STILL AT IT. ...

This is not really a shock , but the more that this sort of thing is recognised and promoted the better things will be: maintaining muscle strength in old age is enormously important in order to maintain mobility and to be able to lead an independent life and manage everyday tasks independently. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Frank Mayer and colleagues from the University of Potsdam conclude that progressive strength (resistance) training counteracts muscular atrophy in old age

I've pointed to stuff like this in the past.  It seems that cancer cells in general have a metabolism that relies on sugar - it is anaerobic.  Starve them of sugar and you starve the cancer. I spotted this report today: Eating a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet may reduce the risk of cancer and slow the growth of tumors already present, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. The study was conducted in mice, but the scientists involved agree that the strong biological findings are definitive enough that an effect in humans can be considered. "This shows that something as simple as a change in diet can have an impact on cancer risk," said lead researcher Gerald Krystal, Ph.D., a distinguished scientist at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre.  Here is the proposed mechanism: When asked to speculate on the biological mechanism, Krystal said that tumor cells, unlike normal cells, need...

John sent me a link to this interesting piece on the dangers of sitting.   Smoking cigarettes is the cause of so much preventable, deadly disease. But now new research shows sitting for long stretches of time may be just as dangerous. There was another study about this I spotted recently too (via a Dr Eades Tweet) - Just one day of sitting, even if eating is reduced to compensate, markedly decreases insulin sensitivity Effects of 1 day of inactivity on insulin action in healthy men and women: interaction with energy intake Daily activity is a must.

Learn more about the Paleo Diet .

perhaps.... Longer sleep duration associates with lower adiposity gain in adult short sleepers This study suggests for the first time that shifting sleep duration from a short to a healthier length is associated with an attenuation of fat mass gain.

I think my posts in the past about TMS have shown that I believe the mind is a massive influence on our health.  We have only begun to scratch the surface of the importance of our attitudes, our subconscious and our thoughts. Here is an interesting study that I came across via the New Scientist .   IF YOU want to lose weight, convince yourself that everything you eat is highly calorific. It could lower your levels of a hunger hormone, potentially suppressing your appetite. Alia Crum at Yale University and her colleagues gave 46 healthy volunteers the same 380-calorie milkshake but were told it was either a sensible, low-calorie choice or an indulgent, high-calorie one. The team also measured levels of ghrelin - a hormone released by the stomach when we are hungry - before and after participants drank the shake. Ghrelin levels have been shown to spike half an hour before mealtimes and return to normal after eating. Volunteers who thought they had indulged showed ...

A great post from Craig Z  Everything in Moderation - Diet The ‘everything in moderation’ argument – which I have heard throughout my life – is the sole refrain of the underpowered. Those that lack the drive to change their situation, regardless of how much encouragement, information or horsepower you offer them. Don’t listen to them. Never let them convince you to go nowhere. Stay Badassed.

I got me one of Tom Naughton's new T Shirts.

The new TGO magazine is out today with another article from me. I am told they have edited it a little so it will be interesting to see what survived and how it looks.  It is on hill walking fitness and if you have hung around this blog much it will all be familiar.  This first one is only introductory but the future ones will look at sprints, posture, basic strength exercises, reversing the damage done by sitting all day, being barefoot, sleep etc   Each month there will be a Movement of the Month - a stretch, mobility piece or a workout.   I've had some input from  my pal Colin Gordon of Edinburgh Deep Tissue Massage . I'm quite excited about this.

Tuesday lunchtime I did some sprints in the new vibram five fingers that I bought on Saturday. It was a jog down to the park and then 3 x 30 second sprints with long rests - about 3 minutes to recover. The a hard 15 sec one to finish me. Really enjoyed it and it forced a good style - movnat / pose ish. My big problem was self consciousness. The shoes make you look like a bit of a wanker. I was really aware of some funny looks as I left the office. I could feel it in my feet the next day too. Not injured but worked. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I  learned things from this.  Great stuff...and the microphone works