Conditioning Research

I'm not quite convinced that bread should involve broccoli....but still this looks interesting and tasty.  I've made a few of Anna's recipes - her recipe book is fantastic - and I will make this I am sure. Check out the whole post.

I've finally updated Hillfit - the ebook that I released about 16 months ago.  The idea behind Hillfit is that the average person who enjoys hiking, hillwalking and time in the outdoors can have more fun, find every walk easier, be safer and more resilient by getting a bit stronger. Getting Stronger Getting stronger shouldn't be a complex matter - picking some simple and safe exercises and doing them consistently can make a huge difference. The focus of it all is enjoyment  -  I want you to have more fun in the hills - getting stronger lets you do that. What is new Version 2.0 is a lot more than an update.  It contains about 70 additional pages, more material and contributions from several other trainers and exercise scientists.  The structure is: PART 1 WHY GET STRONGER PART 2: HOW TO GET STRONGER PART 3: APPLYING YOUR STRENGTH TO THE SKILL OF WALKING PART 4: BEYOND STRENGTH PART 5: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER Contributors This time...

The guys behind Examine.com  have just released a great new resource:  a " Human Effect Matrix ." For every supplement in their database, a handy table tells you what effect each supplement has and how noticeable that effect is. To see what we are talking about, click through to see what the scientific studies say about: Beta-alanine  or   Whey Protein  

I CALL ON YOU TO FIGHT GRAVITY This might be a bit of a disjointed post but I wanted to pull together a few ideas that I’ve been thinking about recently, prompted by a few things that I’ve read some of which I’ve mentioned here.    It is just a case of getting some ideas out of my head, so please do not be too hard on me for a long rambling post. Over the life of this blog I have looked a few times at posture and neuroplasticity – the idea of how the brain itself can change and modify itself in response to what you do with it and with your body.  I’ve also often pointed to the reports of the dangers of a sedentary life.  Without necessarily spinning some grand theory I wanted to highlight a few ideas and maybe begin to plot some connections. MUSCLES THAT TIGHTEN, MUSCLES THAT GET LOOSE This is an idea that I think I first came across from Mark Reifkind , then Paul Check and then Dan John .  I think Chek got it from Janda .  They talk o...

I just thought I'd point to this -  Is exercise to blame for Andrew Marr's stroke?   Marr is a fairly high profile journalist / TV presenter in the UK.  He suffered a stroke a few months ago that he is now blaming on interval training on the Concept 2. Marr said he had followed the advice to "take very intensive exercise in short bursts – and that's the way to health … I went on a rowing machine and gave it everything I had, and had a strange feeling afterwards – a blinding headache, and flashes of light – served out the family meal, went to bed, [then] woke up the next morning lying on the floor unable to move".  As usual, the NHS piece is pretty balanced, although it is a little concerning the way in which the medics talk about the potential dangers of interval training: "Regular exercise is an important factor in stroke prevention and recovery. We have heard anecdotally that some activities like vigorous exercise can sometimes...

Just an excuse to play some Lloyd Cole: "Looking like a born again, living like a heretic" That was the phrase going through my head this weekend as I thought about this post.  The heresy?  For so long I've been identified with, and I suppose in some ways promoted, certain positions in terms of fitness and diet.  There has been a lot of other stuff on the blog: big jumps, neuroplasticity etc, but the recurrent themes are probably diet and exercise.  Diet: paleo-ish and fairly low carb.  Fitness:  HIT style weight training.  The thing is, over the last few months, maybe longer, I've moved away from both to some extent. Such shifts make me feel like a heretic....like I am rejecting some fundamental truths.  Not only a set of principles, but the people, the tribe. Looking like a born again  The change has not harmed me.  I am leaner than I used to be when limiting carbs and have more muscle than I did while training once a week...

James has contributed a chapter to the new version of Hillfit , which should be out in a couple of weeks,  in which he covers the things he goes through in this talk.

Just a quick shout out to point you towards this book,  Sitting Kills, Moving Heals :  How Simple Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain, Illness, and Early Death -- and Exercise Alone Won't , Dr. Joan Vernikos.   There has been so much recently about the dangers of the sedentary life, but this book joins the dots in a very interesting way.  Vernikos was involved in Space projets at NASA and she points out how the impact of weightlessness in space are actually the same impacts - but amplified and condensed - that flow from spending so much time sitting down. Sitting is our way of avoiding the challenges, the exercise, that are properly delivered by gravity. Her prescription is expected - move more - but it is the language that is interesting and motivating - the idea of doing more Gravity Exercises. She points to some good research too.  For example it is not just about spending time stood up....but the repeating acts of standing that are ...

Consistency and habit I am sorry that this blog has been quiet recently, but I've just not been finding things to post: either items that I wanted to highlight here or things that I wanted to write.  I've been distracted by other things - like climbing hills in the sunshine and snow - but also I have been aware of the fact that sometimes there is not really much to say.  In recent posts I've pointed to the idea that consistency and habit, patience and persistence trump most things when it comes to fitness and health.  There is only so many times that you can say this before it gets boring. Logical Fallacies When I have been thinking about "fitness" issues I've actually been reflecting a lot on how limited my outlook has been for so long and how this might have been affecting my results.  A lifetime ago - or so it seems - I did a degree in Philosophy.  I did three years worth of formal logic, which was one of the parts of the course that I rea...