Brick lift

The Worlds Strongest Man has been on TV this week.  It all seems so much more pumped up and serious than it used to be.  Back in the old days they did stuff like this:

To sleep perchance.....

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Hillfit - An ebook

UPDATE - the book is now available at www.hillift.com 

Pretty soon I will be launching a short ebook that I have put together on strength training for the hillwalker / backpacker / hiker.  Walking in the Scottish mountains is my main interest and love.  Much of my training is focussed on making sure I am in shape for that.

I've been writing articles on fitness for the UK magazine TGO for a few months.  This booklet will pull together some of the themes from those pieces but focus really on developing strength through a simple bodyweight HIT style routine.

It should be finalised in a coulpe of weeks and ready for sale on its own website.  It is about 50 pages with some illustrations and a fairly long appendix of references and research to back up what I am saying.   Writing it is only half the battle  -  and that has been hard enough - but the marketing of it will be a challenge!  I am trying to avoid all of the hype filled sales pages, but unfortunately those techniques do seem to work.

Chronic Cardio is healthy?

In our little paleosphere endurance exercise is usually characterised as a "bad" thing.  Mark Sission's Chronic Cardio post is the usual basis for all this, but there are other references too.  In general I agree with this view.  However sometimes other bits and pieces pop up that indicate a different viewpoint.  I saw this one the other day:

Autophagy-related and autophagy-regulatory genes are induced in human muscle after ultraendurance exercise

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether ultra endurance exercise changes the mRNA levels of the autophagy-related and autophagy-regulatory genes. Eight men (44 ± 1 years, range: 38–50 years) took part in a 200-km running race. The average running time was 28 h 03 min ± 2 h 01 min (range: 22 h 15 min–35 h 04 min). A muscle sample was taken from the vastus lateralis 2 weeks prior to the race and 3 h after arrival. Gene expression was assessed by RT-qPCR. Transcript levels of autophagy-related genes were increased by 49% for ATG4b (P = 0.025), 57% for ATG12 (P = 0.013), 286% for Gabarapl1 (P = 0.008) and 103% for LC3b (P = 0.011). The lysosomal enzyme cathepsin L mRNA was upregulated by 123% (P = 0.003). Similarly, transcript levels of the autophagy-regulatory genes BNIP3 and BNIP3l were both increased by 113% (P = 0.031 and P = 0.007, respectively). Since upregulation of these genes has been related with an increased autophagic flux in various models, our results strongly suggest that autophagy is activated in response to ultra endurance exercise.

Autophagy is usually presented as a "good thing" - the self eating process by which cells clean themselves up, getting rid of waste products and some pathogens.  Often it is promoted by fasting and again in the paleo world it is one of the benefits that are claimed for intermittent fasting.  I've probably written about that in the past somewhere.

Anyway, this study seems to link it to ultraendurance exercise.....actually it is talking epigenetics as far as I can see, particular autophagy related genes being switched on.  I suppose this might make sense if the exercise has actually cause massive damage and the body is frantically trying to clear up and repair the mess.  Maybe not so positive.

The Renaissance of Exercise

Well the book arrived while I was away for Christmas.   I've been reading the Renaissance Exercise blog for a while now, following the interest sparked on the Body By Science forum.  The protocol and indeed the whole philosophy of Renaissance Exercise interested me very much partly because it made sense - it lines up with the position of writers that I have leaned a lot form such as Doug McGuff and Drew Baye - and partly because it appealed to my contrarian leanings.

I'd read a fair amount of the SuperSlow articles that were freely available on the internet - there are several here - so I knew roughly what I was getting into.  Renaissance Exercise's marketing strategy was to drip feed blog posts, generating interest and then to launch their machines at a major event following up with the book itself. Well it worked for me, and I ordered the book.  The price put me off initially but I viewed it as a text book / investment and went for it.  I emailed Drew Baye as well and he highly recommended it and he always comes across as a harsh critic.

320 pages, hardback, ribbon bookmarks, dense with information.  This will be an interesting read.  You can find more on the book here

Christmas and new year

Sorry the blog is quiet just now. Christmas visiting families is taking priority.

I have a few things lined up and also an ebook project which should launch in January - Hillfit: strength the missing element in your training, a basic bodyweight HIT routine for hikers / backpackers. It is in draft at the moment but hopefully will be ready in a week or so.

Back soon

Sugar, cancer and mitochondria

I've had stuff up here over the years (e.g. here and here)about how cancer cells seem to survive by burning sugar and not fat and so some doctors have tried to starve cancers by using a ketogenic diet, with some success.

Anyway, here is a video outlining new research into this same topic:



The research is reported here and the full article is available here

Cancer cells tend to take up more glucose than healthy cells, and researchers are increasingly interested in exploiting this tendency with drugs that target cancer cells' altered metabolism.

Cancer cells' sugar cravings arise partly because they turn off their mitochondria, power sources that burn glucose efficiently, in favor of a more inefficient mode of using glucose. They benefit because the byproducts can be used as building blocks for fast-growing cells.

Drugs or diet, if this knowledge can help find a solution to cancer then that is good.

The Complete Guide to Interval Training





More Health and Fitness

How to live forever

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That Plank World Record....The Video

Yesterday I posted about George Hood breaking the world plank record with a phenomenal time of 1 hour 20 minutes  and 5.01 seconds.... John Sifferman is a connoisseur of the plank and had a good post today of the achievement, which included this inspirational video:





John proposes a challenge: a 5 Minute Plank...

George Hood. That’s the name of the man who will be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records after holding the plank exercise longer than anyone else ever has – obliterating the world record by nearly 30 seconds…wait…I mean minutes – 30 minutes.

Maybe you’ve done a plank before, and maybe you thought you’ve done pretty well. Depending on who you talk to, a three minute plank hold is generally considered the gold standard – and anything beyond that is just gravy. Once you’ve hit 3 minutes and beyond, your core is already plenty strong – or so they say. However, I think a growing number of people have already proven that much of successful planking is all in your head. Mental toughness was certainly a deciding factor with the 5 minute plank challenge I posted last year. And I mean, come on, once you’ve done it for 5 minutes, you’re in the elite club, right?

New world record for the plank

This is absolutely mind blowing.

While browsing around looking for images of the plank for an ebook I am working on, I came across this piece of news: a 54 year old man has just set a world record for the plank.  The staggering thing is the length of time that he held the plank:  1 hour, 20 minutes and 5.01 seconds.

That is almost unbelievable - I think I am doing well when I get 3 minutes!

George Hood broke the Guinness World Record on December 3 for the "Longest time in an abdominal plank position," clocking in at 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 5.01 seconds. The record-breaking took place at Eggsperience Pancakes and Cafe in Naperville, where owner John Sakoufakis created a special venue for Hood.

  The full story is here: George Hood breaks Guinness record for plank

I liked his comment:

“I wanted to raise awareness with regard to the benefits of core strength, for one’s personal fitness and overall health,” said Hood, a personal trainer and former Marine. “I see so many people who are overweight, have bad posture and can’t walk from point A to point B. It all comes back to one’s core, and this particular exercise is the best one out there.”

and also that the work only began after 50 minutes!

“Once I broke the record (at 50 minutes), the work began,” Hood said. “When we got to an hour and 12 (minutes), I was ready to call it, but that crew guided me through one minute at a time. They were the only three people in my head and in my ear.”

  John Sifferman - now it is your turn!

Deep Fried....Butter

Eat your heart out Denmark!  In Edinburgh we even deep fry butter itself!

Deep fried butter goes on the menu in Edinburgh

An Edinburgh bar has put a calorific treat to rival the deep fried Mars Bar on its menu - deep fried butter balls.

There is more in the Daily Mail..

Sod the diet: Fiddler's Elbow head chef Simon Robertson (right) and colleague Paul Fitchie with the latest item on the menu - deep-fried butter balls in Irn Bru batter

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076260/Scottish-bar-The-Fiddlers-Elbow-serves-deep-fried-BUTTER.html#ixzz1h6mmUR4P

It is all really about this....

I was up in the hills this morning to watch the sunrise over the snow.  It was glorious.  Full story here.

As I've said before, this is what it is all about really, getting and staying fit enough so I can get to places like this whenever I want.

Physical activity counteracts the effects of a toxic environment?

See what you make of this:  Comparison of urine toxic metals concentrations in athletes and in sedentary subjects

Cadmium (Cd), tungsten (W), tellurium (Te), beryllium (Be), and lead (Pb), are non-essential metals pervasive in the human environment. Studies on athletes during training periods compared to non-training control subjects, indicate increased loss of minerals through sweat and urine. The aim of this study was to compare the level of these trace elements, determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in urine samples, between athletes and age-matched sedentary subjects living in the same geographical area, although anthropometric and cardiovascular measurements showed that athletes have significantly (P ≤ 0.001) lower BMI, body fat and heart rate, whereas the muscle and bone percentage was significantly (P ≤ 0.001) higher than in sedentary subjects. The validity of the methodology was checked by the biological certified reference material. Trace element analysis concentrations, expressed in μg/mg creatinine, of five toxic elements in urine from athletes (n = 21) versus sedentary subjects, (n = 26) were as follows: Cd (0.123 ± 0.075 vs. 0.069 ± 0.041, P ≤ 0.05); W (0.082 ± 0.053 vs. < limit of detection); Te (0.244 ± 0.193 vs. 0.066 ± 0.045, P ≤ 0.001), Be (0.536 ± 0.244 vs. 0.066 ± 0.035, P ≤ 0.001); Pb (0.938 ± 0.664 vs. 2.162 ± 1.444 P ≤ 0.001). With the exception of Pb, urine toxic metal concentrations from athletes were higher than from sedentary subjects. This fact suggests that physical activity counteracts, at least in part, the cumulative effect of toxic environment by increasing the urine excretion of toxic metals in trained people.

So sweating as a result of exercise helps the body to get rid of some of the crap that builds up in it from the environment.

Strength training increases efficiency

Just a  quick post just pointing out an abstract that I have noticed over the weekend.   Top of the list is this one:   Heavy Strength Training improved efficiency in cyclists.

Cyclists Improve Pedalling Efficacy and Performance After Heavy Strength Training.

It was tested whether heavy strength training, including hip flexion exercise, would reduce the extent of the phase in the crank revolution where negative or retarding crank torque occurs. Negative torque normally occurs in the upstroke phase where the leg is lifted by flexing the hip. Eighteen well-trained cyclists either performed twelve weeks of heavy strength training in addition to their usual endurance training (E+S; n = 10) or merely continued their usual endurance training during the intervention period (E; n = 8). The strength training consisted of four lower body exercises [3×4-10 repetition maximum (RM)], which were performed twice a week. E+S enhanced cycling performance by 7%, which was more than in E (P = 0.02). Performance was determined as average power output in a 5-min all-out trial performed subsequent to 185 min of submaximal cycling. The performance enhancement, which has been reported previously, was here shown to be accompanied by improved pedalling efficacy during the all-out cycling. Thus, E+S shortened the phase where negative crank torque occurs by ~16° corresponding to ~14%, which was more than in E (P = 0.002). In conclusion, adding heavy strength training to usual endurance training in well-trained cyclists improves pedalling efficacy during 5-min all-out cycling performed following 185 min of cycling.

Nice to have a bit more ammunition in my battle to get every athlete strength training.

Pressing Reset: The Guide Book for Becoming Bulletproof

 A few months ago I did a quick and dirty review of Becoming Bulletproof and there has been a link to the book in the sidebar of this blog ever since.  I find the brain and ideas of neuroplasticity fascinating and  I liked the way that Tim and Mike addressed these things in their little book.

If you want to get further and apply some of the concepts explained by Norman  Doidge and others, this is a great place to start

They offer an approach to get the brain working in exercise.   Tim has revisited these ideas in a new book - Pressing Reset


Tim says:

I've written a small guide book to Becoming Bulletproof called Pressing Reset.  It is a short "How to" book intended to help people implement the "resets" into their daily lives.

This guide book has expanded on some of the resets and offers more illustrations on how to perform them. Also, in Pressing Reset, I introduce a new "reset" that might surprise you. In fact, you probably do it once in a while.




Anyway, if you get a chance, check it out. If you stop by you can download a free 3 Minute Reset PDF that you can hang on your refrigerator!

3 Minute Reset - free pdf

Congruent Exercise 3: Injuries are to be avoided

One of the basic precepts in Bill DeSimone's Congruent Exercise (I'd encourage everyone to get a copy) is that :

"The absolute first priority for anyone training with weights should be to avoid a catastrophic injury."

Bill notes that this should be obvious, but points to a series of tragic and disabling accidents that have left people dead or disabled.

I thought this when reading some on the weird thing that is T Nation the other day.  It is a set of tales of catastrophic injuries including a powerlifter who shatters his spine while his pals laugh and triceps torn while benching, trying to present these dangers as acceptable, things to be overcome in a macho drive to success.    Actually it comes across as stupid.  Why the hell glory in disabling movements?

strange.


As I have said before:  KEEP IT SAFE

Congruent Exercise 2: Just because you can doesn't mean you should

I'm still planning my full review of Bill DeSimone's excellent new book Congruent Exercise, but I saw a video the other day that made me think of one of the things he says in the book:

"Just because you can move a limb in a certain way, doesn't mean that you should, and it certainly doesn't mean you should move it that way with extra weight."

Bill talking about safe exercise choice but his words came back to me when I saw this.  Surely this guy shouldn't keep doing this!

Congruent Exercise - Part 1

It is rare that I am truly excited by a book, that writing will really stimulate me intellectually, with sets of ideas that connect and make sense.  I like it when that happens, when you find something "new" but which makes so much sense because it is not really new, it is obvious when you put the pieces together.  It is the logic of it I like, when things hold together in consistent ways.

Bill DeSimone's new book, Congruent Exercise, is exciting me!  I will put up a proper review in a few days, but I am really savouring it at the moment.  As I read each page there is a pencil in my hand and I am marking up key paragraphs.....then I find that I am marking the whole thing!

In this new book, Bill is covering much of the same material that was in his first book - Moment Arm Exercise - but he has refined his presentation and the whole argument is very clearly presented.

Moment Arm Exercise fascinated me and I used to study it like a text book, I still dig it out to check out the worth of different movements.  Congruent Exercise is more like a manifesto, a simple pulling together of premises to give a clear and logical prescription for exercise.  Safety is key to all this, designing movements that reflect proper joint and muscle function, informed not by "feel" or dogma, but anatomy and mechanics.

As I say, I'll put up a proper review in a few days, but for now suffice to say that this is the best book I've read this year.  You can get a copy at Bill's eBay store here, or read about the book on its Facebook Page.

I intereviewed Bill way back here and it is  interesting to see that some of the things we touched on in that interview are developed a bit in the new book - such as the role of postural muscles.


You can see some of his videos here.

The bodyweight option.....

You will recall that in the past I have interviewed the authors of Body By Science - Doug McGuff and John Little.

Over on Mark Sisson's blog Doug has a guest post on the Body By Science approach to exercise - Setting Yourself Up to Win: A Body By Science Approach

It is a good introduction to the principles of proper exercise, but the reason I am posting this here is jsut to draw attention to his bodyweight training option.  I hoep Mark and Doug do not mind me copying it here:

If you cannot go to a commercial gym, you can get started with simple free-hand exercises that I will describe to you now.

Chin up: This can be done with a chin-up bar that mounts in a door jam, on a sturdy tree branch or rafter board or playground equipment. If you are not strong enough to do chins, you can set the bar height so you can assist with your legs. If this will not work, simply do them negative only by jumping or climbing to the finished position and lowering yourself as slowly as possible.

Pushups: If you are too weak to perform strict marine pushups, do them from your knees. If you are too weak to do them from your knees, then do only the lowering portion, lowering as slowly as possible. If you are strong enough to do classic pushups, do them with a few modifications. First is slow movement. Start the first inch very gradually, taking 3 seconds to move the first inch and then keep smooth movement going. Divide the movement in halves. Do the first half (bottom position to elbows bent at 90 degrees) until complete fatigue. After you have exhausted the bottom half, do the top half until complete fatigue (elbows from 90 degrees to almost complete extension).

Squat: Start first by doing a static wall squat. Place your back against a wall and descend to a seated position where your hip joint and knee joint are both at 90 degrees. Hold this position for as long as possible. You are done when you start to slide down and cannot hold the 90 degree position any longer. Once you are worn out on the static, do a deep knee bend but with the movement divided in half. Do the first half until fatigue (from hips and knees at 90 degrees/thighs parallel to floor, up to the halfway up point where knees are about 45 degrees). Once you canʼt do the bottom half any more, then do the top half of the movement until you canʼt go on. Remember to not straighten your legs completely, but to turn back around when your knees get to about 15 degrees.

Static Lateral Raise: This movement is done using a door frame. Stand with your feet just outside the door frame and bend slightly forward at the waist. Place the backs of your open hands in the opening of the door frame with your elbows slightly bent. You should be positioned like you are going to a lateral raise with dumbbells. With your hands in the door frame, begin to slowly and smoothly press laterally against the frame. Gradually build up to a 50% effort and keep up a 50% effort for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, gradually ramp your effort up to 75% effort and continue for another 30 seconds. After this 30 seconds is up, gradually ramp your effort to 100% and continue for a final 30 seconds. When you first start you will think “this is silly”. However, by the end you will realize that this is probably tougher than anything you could do on a weight machine.

The timed static contraction for the lateral raise at the end is a killer.  Superb stuff.

Running Gait and injury

Here is a study which looked at treating a common running injury - Chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) - by getting runners to modify their running technique, moving to a forefoot strike.   Although there were only 2 in the study it seemed to fix the injury.  The entire paper is here.

Here is the abstract for you.

EFFECTS OF FOREFOOT RUNNING ON CHRONIC EXERTIONAL COMPARTMENT SYNDROME: A CASE SERIES.

INTRODUCTION:
Chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) is a condition that occurs almost exclusively with running whereby exercise increases intramuscular pressure compromising circulation, prohibiting muscular function, and causing pain in the lower leg. Currently, a lack of evidence exists for the effective conservative management of CECS. Altering running mechanics by adopting forefoot running as opposed to heel striking may assist in the treatment of CECS, specifically with anterior compartment symptoms.
CASE DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this case series is to describe the outcomes for subjects with CECS through a systematic conservative treatment model focused on forefoot running. Subject one was a 21 y/o female with a 4 year history of CECS and subject two was a 21 y/o male, 7 months status-post two-compartment right leg fasciotomy with a return of symptoms and a new onset of symptoms on the contralateral side.
OUTCOME:
Both subjects modified their running technique over a period of six weeks. Kinematic and kinetic analysis revealed increased step rate while step length, impulse, and peak vertical ground reaction forces decreased. In addition, leg intracompartmental pressures decreased from pre-training to post-training. Within 6 weeks of intervention subjects increased their running distance and speed absent of symptoms of CECS. Follow-up questionnaires were completed by the subjects at 7 months following intervention; subject one reported running distances up to 12.87 km pain-free and subject two reported running 6.44 km pain-free consistently 3 times a week.
DISCUSSION:
This case series describes a potentially beneficial conservative management approach to CECS in the form of forefoot running instruction. Further research in this area is warranted to further explore the benefits of adopting a forefoot running technique for CECS as well as other musculoskeletal overuse complaints.

Muscle Anatomy

I am getting addicted to the Khan Academy.  Their stuff on biology is amazing.

Stretching is pants

Bill is always recommending that I look at Paul Ingrahm's material.  I don't know why but I've only just now checked him out.  Thanks Bill

Here is Paul on stretching and the ITB band, both things that I've mentioned here recently!

Check out his site:  Save Yourself

Managing your fears

My magpie mind came across this study today as I was scanning the various feeds that I look at to spot stuff for this blog.  Psychology is fascinating to me, particularly how we relate in social situations.  I suppose some of that relates to that booklet I pointed to the other day on human combative behaviour, where two different modes of attack were presented - the predator and the alpha male.

Today I saw this article reported, which is of a study of MMA fighters, the impact fear has on them and how they handle it.   The whole article is available here:  Managing Emotional Manhood: Fighting and Fostering Fear in Mixed Martial Arts Here is the abstract:

Based on two years of fieldwork and over 100 interviews, we analyze mixed martial arts fighters’ fears, how they managed them, and how they adopted intimidating personas to evoke fear in opponents. We conceptualize this process as “managing emotional manhood,” which refers to emotion management that signifies, in the dramaturgical sense, masculine selves. Our study aims to deepen our understanding of how men’s emotion work is gendered and, more generally, to bring together two lines of research: studies of gendered emotion management and studies of emotional identity work. We further propose that managing emotional manhood is a dynamic and trans-situational process that can be explored in diverse settings.

It is a really interesting study and definitely worth reading through over a cup of coffee.  What I find interesting is the analysis of how the men in the study handle that fear and how the authors extrapolate those methods into other circumstances.

The methods that they pull out from the fighters can all be applied in everyday life.  Some of it reads like pop psychology but the reality from which they extract these methods does lend some credance to it all.  The methods: scripting, framing, othering.  It also talks about how fighters foster fear in their opponents - winning fights before they start. 

The end of the study is interesting:

Putting on a convincing manhood act requires more than using language and the body; it also requires emotion work. By suppressing fear, empathy, pain, and shame and evoking confidence and pride, males signify their alleged possession of masculine selves. Such emotion work may thus create an emotional orientation that primes men to subordinate and harm others. And by signifying masculine selves through evoking fear and shame in others, such men are likely to more easily secure others’ deference and accrue rewards and status. Managing emotional manhood, whether it occurs in a locker room or boardroom, at home or the Oval Office, likely plays a key role in maintain- ing unequal social arrangements.

 The same processes that are used in the cage can be used in the rest of life.....It is also useful to think through how  methods could be used in everyday life to handle fear in lots of situations.

Another week....another study on intervals

Well, another week and another study on the benefits of interval training.  This time it is Gibala's team again (they have done other work on intervals in the past e.g. this)  from  McMaster University in Ontario. The news story is here

Each session involved pedaling on a stationary bike for 10 repetitions of 60 seconds apiece at about 90 percent of maximal heart rate, interspersed with 60 seconds of rest, capped by a short warm-up and cool-down. Each entire exercise session lasted 25 minutes of which only 10 minutes was spent performing vigorous intensity exercise

The muscle biopsies revealed higher amounts of mitochondrial proteins, suggesting that the high-intensity, low-volume training increased the numbers of muscle cell power generators, a marker of improved metabolic health. Although the training regimen didn't decrease body mass in any of the participants, it did increase the maximal workload that each was able to achieve on the stationary bike and decreased heart rate during exercise, markers of improved fitness.

Again this is both exciting and frustrating.  Yes, short bursts of intense exercise have big impacts on mitochondrial biogenesis, insulin sensitivity and VO2 Max.....so for me I am excited that adding some sprints to my day can have a big benefit.  But as Alex Hutchison has pointed out recently in relation to a similar study how many people are likely to be motivated enough to find time even for this minimal exercise?

The abstract is here and the whole study is available here.

Low-volume high-intensity interval training reduces hyperglycemia and increases muscle mitochondrial capacity in patients with type 2 diabetes

Low-volume high-intensity interval training (HIT) is emerging as a time-efficient exercise strategy for improving health and fitness. This form of exercise has not been tested in type 2 diabetes and thus we examined the effects of low-volume HIT on glucose regulation and skeletal muscle metabolic capacity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Eight patients with type 2 diabetes (63±8 yr, BMI 32±6 kg/m2, HbA1C 6.9±0.7%) volunteered to participate in this study. Participants performed six sessions of HIT (10 x 60 s cycling bouts eliciting ~90% maximal heart rate, interspersed with 60 s rest) over 2 wk. Before training and from ~48-72 h after the last training bout, glucose regulation was assessed using 24-h continuous glucose monitoring under standardized dietary conditions. Markers of skeletal muscle metabolic capacity were measured in biopsy samples (vastus lateralis) before and after (72 h) training. Average 24-h blood glucose concentration was reduced after training (7.6±1.0 vs 6.6±0.7 mmol/L) as were the sum of the 3-h postprandial areas under the glucose curve for breakfast, lunch and dinner (both p<0.05). Training increased muscle mitochondrial capacity as evidenced by higher citrate synthase maximal activity (~20%) and protein content of Complex II 70 kDa subunit (~37%), Complex III Core 2 protein (~51%), and Complex IV subunit IV (~68%, all p<0.05). Mitofusin 2 (~71%) and GLUT4 (~369%) protein content were also higher after training (both p<0.05). Our findings indicate that low-volume HIT can rapidly improve glucose control and induce adaptations in skeletal muscle that are linked to improved metabolic health in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The One Joint Rule

Kelly gave me a shout out on his blog the other day.  I've already said that I didn't deserve to be on that list, but it is nice to be mentioned.

 It’s a pretty powerful statement that a brilliant Scot (Conditioning Research) and a guy with an Iphone and an obsession with performance (me) are on the same list as the NYT, and WSJ?  Crazy.

If you don't know Kelly here he is talking about the importance of maintaining proper posture in movement.

Who is this guy?

Richard Dimitri of Senshido International posted this photo today.  Does anyone know who this guy is?

The Human Combative Behaviour Manifesto

One of my interests is self defence....although with work and other pressures recently I've not been along to Krav Maga for several months.   One of the blogs I follow in that area is Adam's Low Tech Combat.  He has just released a free pdf ebook, The Human Combative Behaviour Manifesto.  It is over 8000 words and 40 pages and I've only just downloaded it so  I've not read it yet. 

The introduction though has me hooked and I'm looking forward to reading more.  Adam stresses that ultimately self defence is about avoiding violence, so he looks at human behaviour from that perspective.

Highly recommended.

Keep it safe

I have been reading Alex Hutchison's excellent book Cardio or Weights.  In it he examines the science around a host of fitness and exercise related issues and presents it in a very accessible well written way.  Alex is a top journalist and his skill as a writer is clear in this book.

He is giving me lots of ideas for my fitness column in TGO magazine!  One of the things he covers is aging and the effect on your body and fitness.  He explains that there is evidence that:

Exercise - particularly running - does not seem to lead to joint damage as you get older.  He writes about it here.  However, if you pick up an injury then you can end up with more pain and aches in the joints than if you had never trained.  The science here is that while the statistics look like sports lead to dodgy knees, that risk is accounted for by the incidence of knee injuries - i.e. it isn't the sports that lead to bad knees, but the injuries that happen as part of the sports.  There is a big difference

If you exercise but do not get injured then you are golden.  You get the benefits.

So exercise but do it safely.  This has made me think yet again about keeping safe as I train especially as I get older.  There is no point in risking injury.  My recreational activities may involve some risk, but my exercise never should.

In 2008 I had a post up: Primum non nocere  in which I was getting at the same idea,

Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means "First, do no harm." The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere.

It is one of the principal precepts all medical students are taught in medical school. It reminds a physician that he or she must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do.

In particular, as John Sifferman has pointed out , we need to avoid stupid ego driven training.  In response to the video below he noted:

 I have a friend who owns a CrossFit gym and he told me new CrossFitters have about a 2 year training career before they have to quit due to injury.

What is the point in that?


So to the painful video.  This is not exercise.  This is not safe.  This is stupid.  As John says:

• Dropping barbell on head – check
• Filing down teeth from excessive gritting – check
• Knees bowing inward/outward during jerk catch phase of the lift – check
• Breaking spinal alignment – really check!
• Hyper-extending neck – check
• Nearly being crushed by barbell – check
• Trying to do something again that you clearly couldn’t do the first time – check
• Not paying attention while barbell falls to the floor – check
• Bent elbows during the clean portion of the lift – check
• Lifting weights that are clearly too heavy for you – double-check
• Nearly killing oneself in the pursuit of better health – check

It Starts With an Injury by Tom Furman

Tom Furman

This is a guest post from Tom Furman.  I asked Tom to write something because, on a recommendation from a certain blog, I had bought his ebook: 10 Exercises to De-Age your Body by 10 Years.  I read the book and was really impressed by it - simple straightforward movements that I could give to anyone. I've recommended it to others and even bought an extra copy to pass on to someone else.  For $5 you can't go wrong.  I recently contacted Tom and asked if he wanted to do a post here to promote the book a bit (I am getting nothing out of this by the way).  He has replied with this superb post:


Aging injures and injuries age

Years ago I heard the saying, "Aging injures and injuries age". It had a powerful effect on me. When you get hurt, you change. For some it is a wake up call to take care of your body and fitness. For others it is a wonderful opportunity to gain attention and rationalize their massive shift from active to sedentary.

The funny thing is, when we are young and athletically competitive, we almost wear our injuries as badges of honor. We feel indestructible, almost invulnerable. The twisted ankle or injured knee is almost a right of passage. We never think about slowing down. Try keeping an adolescent from moving around when they get such powerful satisfaction from the physical adventures. It's nearly impossible.

A challenge is a goal that is thrown at your feet

At some point things change. We get injured and something clicks in our brain telling us exactly how mortal we are. It's at this point that we hit a fork in the road. One path is to severely limit or restrict our physical motion and effort. To avoid hard work, active recreation and new physical pursuits. We say we are "too old, injured or afraid". The other path is to view the pain and limitation as a message that we are being challenged. A challenge is a goal that is thrown at your feet. It can be highly energized emotionally and therefore can be very substantial.

In our modern world with modern medicine, we are very safe. Not too many Sabertooth Tigers hunting us down. Because of technology, we can live a life that largely negates any real need for mobility. Escalators, elevators and even electric carts that are available for people that don't want to walk through grocery stores have made the need to move well and almost secondary consideration. This is detrimental to healthy aging and life long physical freedom.

The power of choice and the ability to walk as a warrior

There is a saying that, "I would rather burn out than rust out". It lends itself to the extremes but makes the point about the power of choice and the ability to walk as a warrior all of your years. This can be as simple as choosing a series of drills or movements and doing them regularly and in enough repetition to build and maintain a base of movement and strength. They don't have to be complex. There is nothing new or exciting about this. Movements like dance, yoga, tai-chi and others have been around as long as man. The basic idea is two fold. If you stop doing something, you won't be able to do it. The second part is, whatever you are really bad at, is probably what you should focus on improving.

The first part is fairly easy. If playing golf is important, you can focus on skill and less on endurance and flexibility. If high level gymnastics is your standard, then you have your work cut out for you as you age. However the second half of this idea is less enjoyable. You have to constantly focus on what you aren't good at. If that means stretching for a big, strong, man, so be it. If it means squatting regularly for someone who has never done athletics, then it is time to face the music.

Movement

Above and beyond any sophisticated exercise regimen is a simplistic set of movements that are not grounded in tradition, philosophy or skill. They simply reflect some fundamental actions of the human body which can erode with neglect, lack of interest or just plain laziness. That silly movement routine that the Coach used before gym class could be a minimum protocol to add spring to your step and reduce your physiological age relative to your peers. Even fundamental calisthenics can be a litmus test to maintain vigor as time marches on.

The reality is that the terms "aging and inactivity" need not go together. We can do little about the advancing years, but we can do a lot about the activity part.

To get started on deaging your body, order "Ten Exercises that will De-Age your body by 10 Years", which is fully illustrated with photos on how to do each exercise. ($5 e-book in pdf form) Available at: www.physicalstrategies.blogspot.com/p/e-book.html

Tom Furman has been involved in martial arts and conditioning since 1972. With an early background in wrestling and a student of the methods of the York Barbell Club, Tom immediately separated fact from fiction growing up outside Pittsburgh. Eleven members of his family were combat veterans, the most famous one being “Uncle Charlie” (Charles Bronson).


His down to earth training methods are derived from his decades long practice of martial arts and his study of exercise science. The application of force, improvement of movement and durability rank high on his list of priorities when training. He gives credit to hundreds of hours of seminars, training sessions, and ‘backyard’ workouts, including training time with many martial arts legends. He also credits his incredibly gifted training partners who came from varied backgrounds such as Exercise Physiologists, Airborne Rangers, Bounty Hunters, Boxing Trainers and Coast Guard Rescue Divers.

Myths of the ITB

Someone asked me via Twitter yesterday if I could help to find anything on the ITB and in particular anything that would indicate against stretching it.  Not sure when I became the internet guru, but I was intrigued and did a quick search.  I should really have referred her to Colin

Anyway, what I found was this article:

Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) Myths

One of the myths it points to is this:

It’s the result of a tight ITB, so stretching to elongate the ITB is called for. WRONG: the ITB is a very thickened band of fascial tissues that is impliable. Unlike tendon and muscle tissue, the ITB cannot be permanently lengthened by stretching. Stretching can temporarily increase the length of the ITB by 5%, but this apparent change is probably due to a stretching of the two muscles that actually control tension on the ITB, the tensor fasicia latae and the gluteus medius. Tension on the ITB during running results partly from the contraction of these muscles, but when they are weak it appears to result from the downward collapse of the opposite hip when one leg is planted (which stretches the ITB over the hip, increasing tension.

Makes sense really.

So, if you suffer from ITBS that you cannot shake or which keeps coming back… Strengthening and stabilizing your core during running and modifying your gait to improve tracking of your knees and feet is probably your best bet in the long run. Everything else is a band-aid.

Any comments?

Intermittent, Low-Carbohydrate Diets More Successful Than Standard Dieting

I saw that Jamie ( that paleo guy) had pointed to this study via Twitter

Intermittent, Low-Carbohydrate Diets More Successful Than Standard Dieting

They randomly assigned patients to one of the following diets: a calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate diet for two days per week; an "ad lib" low-carbohydrate diet in which patients were permitted to eat unlimited protein and healthy fats, such as lean meats, olives and nuts, also for two days per week; and a standard, calorie-restricted daily Mediterranean diet for seven days per week.

Data revealed that both intermittent, low-carbohydrate diets were superior to the standard, daily Mediterranean diet in reducing weight, body fat and insulin resistance. Mean reduction in weight and body fat was roughly 4 kilograms (about 9 pounds) with the intermittent approaches compared with 2.4 kilograms (about 5 pounds) with the standard dietary approach. Insulin resistance reduced by 22 percent with the restricted low-carbohydrate diet and by 14 percent with the "ad lib" low-carbohydrate diet compared with 4 percent with the standard Mediterranean diet.

"It is interesting that the diet that only restricts carbohydrates but allows protein and fats is as effective as the calorie-restricted, low-carbohydrate diet," Harvie said.

This is interesting given some of the material I've had on here before about using a ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting approach to treat cancer

Playing with Parkour

via Male Pattern Fitness

a windy study

on a day when Scotland has been battered by  a storm, this study made me smile.  Nice to see this sort of research get funded!

Perceptions of flatulence from bean consumption among adults in 3 feeding studies

More on intervals

Just a quick pointer to a couple of recent studies on interval traning:

Effects of acute sprint interval cycling and energy replacement on postprandial lipemia



Low-volume high-intensity interval training reduces hyperglycemia and increases muscle mitochondrial capacity in patients with type 2 diabetes

Help - exercise illustrations

Can anyone recommend how to create some simple diagrams of calistenics:  wall sit, pushup, hip extension, body row?

I've tried to use DazStudio but it is complicated?

Any recommendations?

This is for a little booklet that I am putting together on strength training for hillwalking / backpacking / hiking

Motion is Lotion

I saw this on Todd's Blog - Better Movement.

Superb stuff  - thanks Todd!

Marathons......

Ok, I know all the chronic cardio arguments....

There were three pieces that I saw today that sparked my interest particularly given how they relate to each other:

First of all the widely reported study that marathon runners have damaged hearts.   Also on Medpage here.

At the same time I saw two pieces that explained how to approach a marathon from a more sensible persepctive:

Mark Sisson on how to eat and train for a marathon - from a more primal  / paleo perspective.  Granted Mark warns you off the habit of marathons but accepts some people will still want to.

Then Tim Ferris had this post about marathon and endurance training on minimal mileage.  The Painless Path to Endurance  He highlighs someone using a low mileage approach to training:

Low mileage. I only ran 30 miles per week in preparation for the 100 miler. The most important training event for ultramarathons is the weekly long run. I kept my heart rate low and breathed through my nose during training runs, and I think that this helped to minimize muscle damage. I can run 20 miles on a Sunday, and still perform strength exercises on Monday. The key is having the LOW INTENSITY. I use a heart rate monitor, and I stay at 60-65% of my MHR. This means that I am often walking on the hills. If I ran 20 miles at 70-75% MHR, my recovery time would be much longer. I would do high intensity track or hill intervals on one day during the week, but the interval workout never lasted longer than 30 minutes. I keep the intervals pretty intense, though.

A lot like Crossfit Endurance.

One for the paleo boys: Cereals rot your teeth

This abstract went across my screen earlier today as I was trawling for interesting tit bits.

Again I've just read the abstract so as ever you need to be aware that the full study might say more in different ways, but I thought it interesting that there appears to be this implicit assumption that archaeological evidence is obvious that cereals cause tooth decay.

Here is the abstract:

Frequency of dental caries in four historical populations from the chalcolithic to the middle ages.

The majority of dental carie studies over the course of historical period underline mainly the prevalence evolution, the role of carbohydrates consumption and the impact of access to dietary resources. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare population samples from two archaeological periods the Chacolithic and Middle Age taking into account the geographical and socio economical situation. The study concerned four archaelogical sites in south west France and population samples an inlander for the Chalcolithic Age, an inlander, an costal and urban for the Middle Age. The materials studied included a total of 127 maxillaries, 103 mandibles and 3316 teeth. Data recorded allowed us to display that the Chalcolithic population sample had the lowest carie percentage and the rural inlander population samples of Middle Age the highest; in all cases molars were teeth most often affected. These ones differences could be explained according to time period, carious lesions were usually less recorded in the Chalcolithic Age than the Middle because of a lesser cultivation of cereals like in les Treilles Chacolithic population sample. In the Middle Age population samples, the rural inland sample Marsan showed the highest frequency of caries and ate more cereal than the coastal Vilarnau and the poor urban St Michel population samples, the first one ate fish and Mediterranean vegetal and fruits and the second one met difficulties to food access, in both cases the consumption of carbohydrates was lesser than Marsan population sample who lived in a geographical land convice to cereals cultivation.

James Steele on low back pain

I have previously pointed to James' recent peer reviewed paper on evidence based weight training

Here is a video of him speaking earlier in the summer on low back pain:

It’s appalling how we disuse the body

Erwan Le Corre would like this:



Food is advertised rather than hunted for...

Irene at Human Groove wrote about this in a good post   Indeed it led her on to more thoughts at this later post which has some more exciting movements, with a child having some great fun.

Child’s Play and The Void

So often we coddle and “baby” our kids, telling them things like, “that’s dangerous”…..”be careful”…..”you’ll hurt yourself”.

These statements, over time (can) make it such that a new little human being starts to distrust their own instincts and movement skills.

I’ve watched many infants crawl to ledges of staircases and various drop-offs, and if you let them sense the void and distance below them, they’ll back off.

Of course there are moments in an infant’s development when you need to set a few boundaries and offer a little guidance, but more often than not, kids, infants especially, can sense danger. They feel it in their insides. Their guts tell them when something isn’t safe.

For us adults, letting our younger counter-parts grow this invaluable gut instinct is essential.

As adults, we need to re-kindle and re-awaken this part of us.

Cellular Respiration

Asclepius over at Natural Messiah recently pointed to the videos of Khan Academy and I have been spending some time looking through the material they have.  It is awesome.  If you have any interest in biology or physiology then you will find some interesting educational material over there. 

For example here is his explanation of Cellular Respiration which how you derive energy from glucose:

Sitting around does make you fatter

I've had stuff here before about the dangers of being sedentary.  For example  this infographic

Anyway, often all that is just association.  Here is a study which seems to offer some mechanism of why sitting around makes you fatter....

Static Mechanical Stretching Accelerates Lipid Production in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes by Activating the MEK Signaling Pathway

Sustained stretching brings new fat cells into existence.

Eureka have a commentary:

inactivity actually encourages the body to create new fat in fat cells, says Prof. Amit Gefen of TAU's Department of Biomedical Engineering. Along with his Ph.D. student Naama Shoham, Prof. Gefen has shown that preadipocyte cells — the precursors to fat cells — turn into fat cells faster and produce even more fat when subject to prolonged periods of "mechanical stretching loads" — the kind of weight we put on our body tissues when we sit or lie down.

All very interesting.

Of course I know it is just mice....

Minimal Fitness 2

I mentioned this study a few days ago, but I was away from my computer so couldn't write much.

The study is here.

Towards the minimal amount of exercise for improving metabolic health: beneficial effects of reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training.

It was done here in Edinburgh at Heriot-Watt University.  The protocol that was tested was of 3 easy 10 minute cycling sessions with a one or two hard 10 second sprints thrown in.  The result was an improvement in key health markers - insulin sensitivity and VO2 peak.

The researchers see this as a great encouragement -  big benefits can come from relatively modest investments in time:

In conclusion, in this study we have shown that a very brief and feasible exercise intervention is associated with improvements in metabolic health and aerobic capacity. Our findings suggest that this REHIT protocol may offer a genuinely time-efficient alternative to HIT and conven- tional cardiorespiratory exercise training for improving risk factors of T2D.

 I also think that this is an exciting study with some very exciting implications.  All this of course chimes with the work of Tabata, Termblay and Gibala over recent years.  Just a few bullets:

• Again it is about intensity -  those hard 10 second efforts do the job.
• This does not take long -  there should be no excuse that you have no time to exercise.

Alex at the superb Sweat Science blog has already looked at this research and commented that this will not really get people off the couch and onto the exercise bike.  He is probably right.

The way in which I view this is obviously different from the way in which a non exercising unfit person would consider the research.  To me it is a motivation and an encouragement - if I am taking a short walk I discover that a short sprint up some stairs will have a good impact - it will make me more insulin sensitive for example. 

I want to use things like this to get people to do some intense movement.  Not much, but something challenging.

Of course, at the back of this as an HIT enthusiast, I always wonder whether all the benefits could also come from appropriate resistance training......

Konstantinovs....

I think I have had videos of Konstantinovs up here before.  The guy is amazing..Watch his squat.   Marc Keys would approve!

Of course the deadlift is superb

Exercise, depression, eating.....

The debates about the direction of causality in terms of exercise and leanness go back and forth.  This study has some interesting ideas and implications.

In some fat women, exercise past a certain threshold reduced their depression...which seemed to make them better at controlling their eating.

As ever there are so many things going on! 

Relationship of exercise volume with change in depression and its association with self-efficacy to control emotional eating in severely obese women.

Physical Fitness, Physical Activity and Low Back Pain.

This one drew my attention, given my history of low back problems (which recently have resolved with the help of Colin Gordon, the MWOD, lots of planks and efforts to reduce my stress).  In any case, the point of this study is that while physcial activity can prevent or reduce back pain.....physical fitness is more potent.

So it is potentially a question of intensity.  It is not just doing things, moving the body, physical activity.  More important is focussed intentional activity that improves fitness.  Proper exercise if you like.   Don't just move...get fit.

Physical fitness, rather than self-reported physical activities, is more strongly associated with low back pain: evidence from a working population.

These findings suggest that physical activity of an intensity that improves physical fitness may be important in the prevention of LBP.

Music as a warm up / ergogenic aid!

Every now and again a really nice little study pops up as I scan the news.  This morning I saw this bit of research in the International Journal of Sports Medicine:

Listening to Music Affects Diurnal Variation in Muscle Power Output.

I am only going by the abstract but they had people do the Wingate Test - a set time pedaling at maximum speed against a constant force - either at 7am or 5pm, with a 10 minute warm up..... either listening to music or not listening to music during the warm up.

Power was always better in the afternoon if there was no music in the warm up.  With music, the difference in the average power disappeared and the difference in peak power was lessened.  Music in the warm up also boosted both peak and mean power.

The researchers suggest that

as it is a legal method and an additional aid, music should be used during warm-up before performing activities requiring powerful lower limbs' muscles contractions, especially in the morning competitive

I wonder what sort of music you need to listen to to get fired up?  Does anyone know what they used in the study?  Manowar?  Mastodon?

in the top 10

I spotted today that this blog had made Outside magazine's list of:

THE TOP 10 FITNESS BLOGS
The best sites for health advice and commentary, so you can get online and go outside

Here is the full list:

Within the last year, The New York Times, The New York Observer, and Wired all pondered whether Facebook and Twitter have killed blogging. Phooey. Health and fitness blogs are better than ever—and these 10 provide analysis and voice that status updates and 140 character tweets can’t touch. These are the fitness blogs we find ourselves checking every day.

10. Conditioning Research
9. RunBlogger
8. Core Performance
7. Greatist.com
6. NPR Shots
5. Science Daily Fitness News
4. Mobility WOD
3. Wall Street Journal Health Blog
2. Sweat Science
1. The New York Times Well Blog

I can't believe that this blog made that list!  Next to the quality of the material in some of those other blogs my offerings are very weak.  All I've ever claimed to be doing is recording various bits and pieces that I find interesting and which I hope to build into my own thinking and trainging.  It is humbling to find that these records are helping other people.

I do not deserve to be up there with Sweat Science Kelly Starret!  

THANK YOU!

Here is what they say about this blog:

Highcock, a Scottish fitness fan, uncovers interesting tidbits of info and videos related to strength training, running, nutrition, parkour—you name it, he’s posted something about it. Highcock’s blog is more like a content aggregation service than a personal platform. He has a decidedly Paleo bent, frequently posting short tidbits of info about strength training, stretching, and barefoot running.

Och well, I will just keep on doing what I do!