Conditioning Research

I think I have previously pointed to the regular  review of  Strength and Conditioning Research studies that is put together each month by Chris Beardsley and Bret Contreras.  Each issue does an overview of scores of studies explaining them in plain language and then pulling out the key points.  It is a great resource if you want to keep on top of the current thinking in academic exercise science and think about how it applies to your own training. The pair of them have just brought out a new piece of work that they sent me to have a sneak preview.  This one is really useful - it is aimed at getting you up to speed not on the latest research but on the current accepted state of knowledge in fitness, exercise and strength science.  Why does a muscle contract?  How does it grow?  What do we know about fatigue, resistance training, bone strength. Strength and Conditioning Research: Background - takes the same appro...

The inimitable Bill DeSimone teaches proper form Bill knows his stuff and can explain it so well . Learn more at his Facebook Page 

A nice analysis....

Now this is interesting and indeed reflects what many people have found.   The whole study is available by the way. Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise—a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males In conclusion, a similar body fat loss was obtained regardless of exercise dose. A moderate dose of exercise induced a markedly greater than expected negative energy balance, while a higher dose induced a small but quantifiable degree of compensation . Although well recognized as an important means for weight loss maintenance ( 9 ), the role of habitual endurance training in weight loss is scrutinized, and it has been suggested that exercise leads to compensatory responses. In the current study, we show that despite that one group undertook twice the amount of endurance training, the reduction in body weight and, more importantly, in body fat was the same as the weight loss and was equal among the two ...

This one keeps coming up.  I think if I had one health recommendation it would be to get more decent sleep.  Of course this is one thing that I do not do myself even though I know how important it is. Adequate Sleep Helps Weight Loss ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Adequate sleep is an important part of a weight loss plan and should be added to the recommended mix of diet and exercise, states a commentary in CMAJ   "The solution [to weight loss] is not as simple as 'eat less, move more, sleep more,'" write Drs. Jean-Phillippe Chaput, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario and Angelo Tremblay, Laval University, Québec, Quebec. "However, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that sleeping habits should not be overlooked when prescribing a weight-reduction program to a patient with obesity. Sleep should be included as part of the lifestyle package that traditionally has focused on diet and physic...

Here is a good one.  It seems that onions are very, very healthy An important pharmacological aspect of onion is the ability to inhibit platelet aggregation. However, this property is destroyed by steaming....in fact cooking might actually render the onion unhealthy! The study is available in full at Steam-cooking rapidly destroys and reverses onion-induced antiplatelet activity Conclusions In the present study, antiplatelet activity induced by onion extract was destroyed between 3 and 6 min of steaming. At 10 min of steaming, cooked onions stimulated platelet activity, and cooked extracts had the potential to reverse the inhibitory effect on blood platelets by 25%.Thus, possible negative health implications of eating onions in the cooked form were revealed. Because OIAA was lost and reversed with steam-cooking, consumers may want to minimize onion cooking time, choose onions with high pungency for cooking practices, and/or co...

If you follow my other blog you might realise that I've been on holiday for the last 2 weeks, just getting back to work today.   It was great, walking in Austria and then a 46 mile walk over 2 days on the West Highland Way. Most of that time I was off line.  In Austria there was WiFi didn't really use it and last week I had got ou of the habit of checking blogs and feeds for all the drama. It was a nice rest actually and made me realise how unhealthily focussed I can get about my on-line activities.  It is refreshing to spend some good time outdoors and away from the internets.  I need to fo it more.

We know that Bill is fantastic.  His books on exercise are some of the most rational and straightforward texts on form and biomechanics out there.  If you do not already have it please check out his book   Congruent Exercise I interviewed Bill here .

I saw this in my Dad and in the other people in hospital with him...it is so important to keep old people strong and well fed.   Matt Stone makes some great points - as usual. Sarcopenia

Enjoying some proper time outside is stil keeping me form the blog I am afraid, although that is how it should be. Tuesday and Wednesday I walked 46 miles of the West Highland Way, 26 miles the first day and 20 the next.  I enjoyed it - it was good simply to journey on foot, to see landmarks go from distast to close to something I walked past.  I was putting in pretty consistent 15 minute miles for most of it although on the more technical sections things slowed down. My fitness was pretty good too.  I did something similar four years ago and felt a lot worse at the ned.  This time while tired my main observation was how hungry I was!

The blog has been quiet while I've been on holiday for a week - walking in the Zillertal Alps in Austria. It was stunning scenery.  I totally forgot about dieting though and just ate and drank whatever (well I stayed gluten free).  I've come back 7lb heavier, but that will soon shift. Looking down into the Italian South Tyrol

More from Marcus

You can tell that Paleo is getting mainstream when they start creating infographics about it! Presented By: MedicalBillingAndCoding.org

Perhaps: Gluteal muscle activity and patellofemoral pain syndrome: a systematic review

I've not been to Edinburgh Krav Maga training for over a year now - work and life got in the way and I   just got out of the habit.   Marcus who is the Chief Instructor and the gym has been posting some goods videos of various techniques.  Worth checking out if you are interested in self defence

5 September  - a little smoother A couple of weeks ago I posted a report on how I'd cut a bit of bodyfat , under guidance of Andy from RippedBody .  After that post I took it easy for a couple of weeks on Andy's advice taking a diet break to ease up both psychologically and physically.  For a couple of weeks I stopped counting macros and just ate to appetite. After those weeks I was actually eager to get back into the routine of dieting and for the last two weeks I've been back at it.  I've a couple of weeks off work coming up when the diet will slip again, but I am comfortable with this approach at the moment and think I can take off a little more fat while building a bit of muscle. In terms of training I am still on a once a week full body routine of mostly bodyweight moves done in a high intensity style, with a  walk/run in the hills at the weekends. I am pretty happy with the set up at the moment - it is simple and no great effort.  Still I've...

A while ago now I interviewed Fed Fornicola .  Amid what often becomes impenetrably dense arguments in the HIT training field, Fred is a voice of simplicity and strength.  Things do not have to be as complex as we often make them as we geek out about training (e.g see this thread over on the Body By Science blog  - even I join in!).  Fred keeps things simple - train hard, train safe, recover and go again. Fred and his co-author the expert trainer Matt Brzycki have just published a new ebook -  50 Workouts for Strength and Fitness: Safe, Efficient and Effective Training with Free Weights   (Also available from  Amazon  for kindle.) The book doesn't go into the long descriptions of exercises that often fill up training books.  It assumes that you know the exercises or that you can find out how to do them (This is the age of google and YouTube!   There are some pretty decent sites ou there now that sho...

Marc has written a superb post here - Obsession: Why it is a dirty word.     He asks some important questions and points out some startling inconsistencies in the way in which the world views different activities.   Those of us who train and pay attention to our diet are seen as obsessed in a negative way, while those who drink too much or live life to watch tv are seen as normal and acceptable. It might not be normal to lift heavy on a near daily basis and to try and control my weight using different dietary interventions but I find it empowering to have the ability to change my body composition and I love lifting. If I was to be a "normal" and not know how to get leaner, or not have a hobby to obsesses over and get better at I think I would be a much less fulfilled human being.  I don't see how working a 9 to 5 job, eating 3 square meals and watching TV as my hobby would be a better alternative. Sure people might question what you do and ask why you d...

This event in Edinburgh next week looks like it would be fun to take part in.  I've another commitment that day unfortunately but if you are available, check it out.

I tried some gluten free baking today!  How about this! It is a buried banana in a banana loaf.   Found it here and can't wait to eat it!  Eggs, oats, banana, coconut, sweet potato and whey protein.

I just wanted to point you to a superb resource that I get each month -  Strength and Conditioning Research .  This research review is put together by Chris Beardsley and Bret Contreras and provides an easy to understand summary of a huge range of research published in the previous month on Strength and Conditioning.  It is similar to Alan Aragon's Research Review, but has a much wider scope. You can get a flavour of the publication by checking out the blog, for example this useful analysis of a recent study on isometrics:  Comparing isometric training at a range of angles with dynamic training This month I also got a pleasant surprise when the monthly review arrived in a variety of formats including mobi, so I have been able to get it on my Kindle!  Excellent. Anyway if you have any interest in strength and conditioning training and research I would highly recommend this monthly review.  Check out the free extract I don't make any...