Conditioning Research

Anthony has put together a great line up of speakers for this year's conventions.  Click here to visit The 21 Convention LLC. I don't know about the pick up guys, but on the exercise front he has managed to bring together some innovative  thinkers and writers: In London he has:   Dr John Briffa , Simon Whyatt , Simon Shawcross and James Steele II . Austin Texas will feature: Doug McGuff , Robb Wolf , Drew Baye , Dave Asprey and Keith Norris   I've interviewed a few of these guys, follow all of them through their blogs, twitter etc and think that these events will be like my RSS dumping its contents into a conference suite.  Anthony always does high quality video of the events, so even if you can't make it look forward to some excellent presentations.

Lots of runners were doing a 54 mile ultra in the West of Scotland yesterday.  John Kynaston has a great account of the race on his blog: Hoka Highland Fling Race report

This is disturbing.  I used to go to a chiropractor but I gave it up as woo . Chiropractic manipulation of the spine may cause strokes and even death A study by American neurosurgeons adds to evidence suggesting chiropractic can damage arteries supplying the brain

Carb cycling is something that I am playing with at the moment with the help of Andy at Ripped Body. ..but that is for another post.  Anyway, I saw this post on carb cycling for runners.  Good stuff: Carbohydrate Cycling For Runners Athletes learning from bodybuilders again.

I've been busy recently with work and that meant I had forgotten to post a link to this excellent piece by Colin Gordon of Edinburgh Deep Tissue Massage on Flexibility and injury : When we talk about the need for improved flexibility in injury prevention we are not talking about the need to develop the range of movement demonstrated by a gymnast merely that we have the normal range of movement for our joints.... If we are to tackle flexibility issues fully with we need to think beyond simply stretching, in any form, as to why we lack ROM within a joint but that whilst stretching will not prevent injury, there is no evidence that it does, there is no reason not to utilise various stretching type techniques to help regain our normal range of motion. Go and read the whole thing

I thought this was an interesting story about Napier University here in Edinburgh..... Researchers find watercress can help with stress of tough workouts "The increased demand on the body for energy can create a build-up of free radicals which can damage our DNA. "What we’ve found is that consuming a relatively small amount of watercress each day can help raise the levels of important antioxidant vitamins which may help protect our bodies and allow us to enjoy the rewards of keeping fit. "It’s an interesting step forward in sports nutrition development and research." OK, all well and good. I also saw the story elsewhere - Leafy Greens Help Prevent Damage Caused by a Workout, Study Suggests - with this interesting little comment: The study was sponsored by Vitacress Salads, one of Europe's growers of watercress.  It doesn't invalidate it of course, but did make me smile! Acute and chronic watercress supplementation attenuates exercise-induced p...

This is a guest post from Coach Nick Tumminello has built a reputation as the ‘Trainer of trainers” through his workshops at conferences and fitness club around the world. And, for his consulting work with pro/college sports teams and with exercise equipment/ clothing manufactures. He’s the owner of Performance University international, which provides hybrid strength training & conditioning for athletes and educational programs for fitness professionals. Based in South Florida, Nick is a Fort Lauderdale personal trainer who works with a select group of athletes and exercise enthusiasts. You can check out Coach Nick’s articles, DVDs, seminars schedule, mentorship program and very popular hybrid fitness training blog at http://nicktumminello.com/ 7 Psychological Reasons Why Experts will always argue; Training Debates are a waste; and the Fitness industry will stay divided.  I often get asked why I don’t express my feelings about what other coaches are doing/saying,...

This paper looks interesting..... The important thing seems to be training to failure.... not necessarily using a heavy load Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men We have reported that the acute post-exercise increases in muscle protein synthesis rates, with differing nutritional support, are predictive of longer-term training-induced muscle hypertrophy. Here, we aimed to test whether the same was true with acute exercise-mediated changes in muscle protein synthesis. Eighteen men (21±1 yr, 22.6±2.1 kg∙m-2 means±SE) had their legs randomly assigned to two of three training conditions that differed in contraction intensity (% of maximal strength [1RM]) or contraction volume (1 or 3 sets of repetitions): 30%-3, 80%-1 and, 80%-3. Subjects trained each leg with their assigned regime for a period of 10wk, 3 times/wk. We made pre- and post-training measures of strength, muscle volume by magnetic resonance (MR) scans, as well as pre-...

Bret Contreras - the Glute Guy - with a new approach to the Clam Shell..... .

Tim Huntley who sometimes writes for Robb Wolf passed on a link to a great piece has has done on how to read scientific research: it is written for a person who is new to science but would like to be able to understand the structure and primary concepts in a research article. It is a great resource - thanks Tim! Scientific Research 101 You might be a student with a homework assignment, someone who is searching for answers to a health question, or someone who is intrigued by a research study mentioned in the newspaper or on television.    Honestly there could be a thousand reasons why you want to lean how to read scientific research. Independent of your age or education, you have the capability to understand scientific research studies.   I’m not suggesting that everyone should become a research scientist, but with a reasonable amount of effort, you can read, evaluate, and utilize the researcher’s work.  You simply need a roadmap to guide you along ...

Something to aim for...... Great squats!  Thanks to Michael Allen Smith for posting this on Facebook.

A few weeks ago I pointed to the ideas of Samuele Marcora and his psycholbiological model of fatigue.  I also recently had an articule published in a UK hillwalking magazine which looked at his ideas. I just noticed an review paper - the whole pdf is available - by the prominent Exercise Scientist Tim Noakes around these ideas: Fatigue is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates the Exercise Behavior to Ensure the Protection of Whole Body Homeostasis The ideas are somewhat different from those of Marcora, who sees motivation as much more important, but the key is still the brain, not the muscles or cardiovascular system: The model predicts that attempts to understand fatigue and to explain superior human athletic performance purely on the basis of the body's known physiological and metabolic responses to exercise must fail since subconscious and conscious mental decisions made by winners and losers, in both training and competition, are the ultimate determinants of both f...

If you have listened to Robb Wolf's podcasts you may have come across the name of James Fitzgerald / OPT and listened to the discussions of his performance and programming. Spencer Morris has done a good interview with OPT: There is a full transcript of the interview on his blog Definitely worth watching / listening to:

My work is too busy at the moment for me to do much on this blog, but I am still keeping an eye on news and research. This study popped up last week and I thought it had some interesting implications. Altering gait by way of stimulation of the plantar surface of the foot: the immediate effect of wearing textured insoles in older fallers Conclusions - Stimulating the plantar surface of the foot by way of wearing this type of textured insole causes an immediate effect - in this case a slower, more cautious gait in older fallers. Further work is required to determine how textured insoles can be used to improve gait in older fallers. The whole study is there for you to look through. Anyway, what this made me think of was the value of being barefoot.  So much information comes from the feet, from the sole.  While shod, all that information is blunted.  Barefoot there is so much more stimulation and data that can be processed by the brain to feed into the propriocep...

This is interesting Presented by: Term Life Insurance Resource

I actually do this on the bus...... From nano workout. ... The Flamingo is a balance exercise you can do if you find yourself standing on an unstable platform such as on a train, bus or in an elevator. It couldn’t be more simple to do. Just lift one leg slightly and try to keep your balance without holding on to something. Public transportation are rarely known for providing a smooth ride so you are in for a challenge, but if you for some reason think it’s too easy then try to close your eyes while still standing on one leg. You will get a great balance exercise and also strengthen the muscles on your lower legs.

   

Superb  (thanks to Keith Lee from Twitter)

Another video from Nessa Carey, explaining the structure of DNA.  As I said in the last post she explains things really well.

Friday night we went along to another lecture at the Edinburgh Science Festival.  This one was on one of my trinity of sexy subject (mitochondria, the microbiome and epigenetics). Nessa Carey was the lecturer and she was talking about epigenetics.  It was a really good talk.  What made it very helpful was the way in which she used good illustrations to explain the complexities of epigenetics.   She talked about how DNA is not a template to make lots of identical clones, but a script:  her example was Romeo and Juliet....the words can be the same but what comes out at the end on stage or screen can be totally different. Another one she had relating to disease as much as anything was the idea of a bicycle.  The bike can be fine, everything functioning and ready to go.  However, if it is locked to a fence it will not be going anywhere.  Nothing wrong with the bike, but until it is released then it will not function.  Similarly yo...

This one looked interesting. Adding a few sprints to your basic steady state cardio added fun, did not feel harder and increaed energy expenditure... Adding sprints to continuous exercise at the intensity that maximises fat oxidation: Implications for acute energy balance and enjoyment. The objective was to examine the effect of adding sprints to continuous exercise at the intensity that maximises fat oxidation (Fat(max)) on energy expenditure, substrate oxidation, enjoyment and post-exercise energy intake in boys. Nine overweight and nine normal weight boys (8-12 years) attended the laboratory on three mornings. First, body anthropometrics, peak aerobic capacity and Fat(max) were assessed. On the remaining two sessions, resting metabolic rate was determined before participants completed 30 min of either continuous cycling at Fat(max) (MOD) or sprint interval exercise consisting of continuous cycling at Fat(max) interspersed with four-second maximal sprints every two minutes (SI...

the slow muscle up from  an L sit starting at 0:52 is pretty impressive!

Someone (the nano workout crew) has been watching Kelly S   The original

I was listening to one of John Kynaston 's West Highland Way race podcasts last night. The WHW is a race over 95 miles in the West Highlands of Scotland. One of the speakers was talking about carrying on when it gets tough. She said something like"pain is a privilege for the living. ". Take encouragement from it. It reminds you that you are alive and lucky enough and fit enough to be doing this. She had come back to race after a brain injury and for her sore feet were a joy! Look for the positives in your struggles.

If just received a review copy of Robb Wolf's new ebook - a Paleo Budget Shopping Guide - and have been quickly skimming through it.  I like it. Target The book is aimed clearly at addressing one key complaint - "I can't afford it!".   People may be convinced that a paleo diet is wise and could solve  their health and performance issues, but it just seems like it would be beyond their wallet.  It is very much a book for this century when many have forgotten how to buy and cook real food. You can afford it! Robb sees this very much as an excuse - often it is about making time to shop and cook - and explains how you can improve your diet to adopt a Paleo template without going bankrupt.  Cook, Plan, Save, Shop and Prepare Across the ebook's 6 chapters, Robb deals with these key principles. Learn to cook - there are preparation methods that make things cheap and easy, like a pressure cooker or slow cooker. Plan your meals - a bit of planning ...

If you have a couple of hours, this documentary is worth watching. hat tip to Marc

What excuse do I need? A compound found in red wine, grapes and other fruits, and similar in structure to resveratrol, is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential method to control obesity, according to a Purdue University study. It is an interesting mechanism here: Kim found that piceatannol binds to insulin receptors of immature fat cells in the first stage of adipogenesis, blocking insulin's ability to control cell cycles and activate genes that carry out further stages of fat cell formation. Piceatannol essentially blocks the pathways necessary for immature fat cells to mature and grow.

I went to an event last night at the Edinburgh Science Festival.  It was a fascinating lecture by 4 of the UK's (world's?) top exercise scientists. The lecture was called How far, how fast how high? What are the genetic, physiological, biochemical and psychological limits to the human body? Former UK Athletics Performance Director, Professor Dave Collins, joins sports scientists Dr Yannis Pitsiladis and Professor Andy Jones, and nutritionist Professor Ron Maughan to discuss the physiologic, genetic, psychosocial and economic determinants of success, and the limits to performance. Citius, Altius, Fortius is the Olympic motto, but how far, how fast and how high can we actually go? All of the talks were excellent: Dave Colins spoke about the psychology of winning - all things being equal, elite athletes are those who believe that they are the best.   He gave a fascinating report of a study he had done on powerlifters.  He told them they were getting steroids...

Back last summer sometime I was contacted by the editor of an on-line magazine Interesting Times who asked me to write something for him.  At the time I was busy with work and couldn't put the time into writing.  Plus I didn't think I had what he was looking for.....but I knew a man who did!  I pointed him towards Jamie Scott - New Zealand's That Paleo Guy - and sue enough Jamie wrote a superb piece detailing how his training, diet and lifestyle had enabled him to survive the Christchurch earthquakes of last year. I'd just about forgotten about the piece but I got an email today with a link to download the magazine. I have not read the rest of it, but Jamie's piece  - Survival of the Fittest …and most skillful? - is brilliant.  Check it out!

I spotted this poster outside a newsagent today and it prompted me to buy the paper: The story is here and basically is telling us that thyroid problems are increasing because: More people are cutting RED meat from their diet People are eating more soy  The latest official figures show that NHS Scotland spent £8 million treating thyroid conditions in 2011 compared with just £2.2 million in 2001. Over the same decade, the number of prescriptions for thyroid problems soared from 1.2 million to 2.2 million. Experts believe a lack of iron from reduced red meat consumption and large amounts of soya in some vegetarian meals has contributed to the increase of more than 300 per cent in Scotland’s thyroid drug bill. The poster really made me stop - it is so rare to see vegetarian diets identified as UNhealthy.