Conditioning Research

Two studies that say how best to recover from repeated sprints....basically rest / passive recovery rather than active recovery. Effect of Recovery Mode on Repeated Sprint Ability in Young Basketball Players. - The results of this study show that during repeated sprinting, passive recovery enabled better performance, reducing fatigue . Consequently, the use of passive recovery is advisable during competition in order to limit fatigue as a consequence of repeated high intensity exercise. Performance and metabolism in repeated sprint exercise: effect of recovery intensity - In summary, peak power indices during the repeated-sprint test were inferior in the MI (moderate intensity) and LI (low intensity) active recovery trials, compared to passive (total rest?) . The minimal differences in performance and muscle metabolites between the MI and LI trials suggest that any low-to-moderate level of muscle activation will attenuate the resynthesis of PCr and the recovery of power output duri...

More of this research as discussed previously Growth of human gastric cancer cells in nude mice is delayed by a ketogenic diet supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids and medium-chain triglycerides Background : Among the most prominent metabolic alterations in cancer cells are the increase in glucose consumption and the conversion of glucose to lactic acid via the reduction of pyruvate even in the presence of oxygen. This phenomenon, known as aerobic glycolysis or the Warburg effect, may provide a rationale for therapeutic strategies that inhibit tumour growth by administration of a ketogenic diet with average protein but low in carbohydrates and high in fat enriched with omega-3 fatty acids and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). Methods : Twenty-four female NMRI nude mice were injected subcutaneously with tumour cells of the gastric adenocarcinoma cell line 23132/87. The animals were then randomly split into two feeding groups and fed either a ketogenic diet (KD group; n=12) or a standar...

Back in January I pointed out that the Guardian had a thought-provoking piece on fruit, saying that the current focus on fruit in the diet is not necessarily healthy: The myths of fruit I was thinking of this reading Dr Briffa's latest post: Study links fruit juice consumption with increased risk of diabetes

In the past I've posted lots of thoughts on functional training , including some research on appropriate training for football . Dr Craig Duncan is currently the director of The Academy of Athletic Development and Head of the Sport and Fitness department at the South Western Sydney Institute of TAFE. He completed his PhD in Sport and Exercise Science at The University of Sydney and has numerous published papers on the effect of exercise on the human body. Craig has worked with a number of sporting organisation including NSW Institute of Sport, Football Federation Australia, Sydney Olympic Football Club and International Goalkeeping Acadamy. Craig's special interest is in Total Athletic Condioning and applying a systematic approach to training. Craig comments occasionally on this blog - which I find quite humbling. He is a proper scientist and I am an amateur in all this. I find diet and training fascinating, but my degrees are in other disciplines. Anyway, Craig has a blog ...

Stuart has highlighted an interesting piece of research from back in 1973 in a post he has put up called Starve a Fever . In previous posts I have highlighted how f asting turns on autophagy : Autophagy as I said before: . .......... (literally self-eating) a process in which your cells consume and recycle damaged internal material. The process seems to be triggered when the energy content of the cell declines so that the cell literally consumes itself. It goes after the damaged materials first, so there is a strong link between repair of damaged tissues and fasting or low energy state in the cell. So, it you are over-fed you down regulate cellular repair. You want to go hungy episodically to turn on cellular autophagy and repair those damaged tissues. Stuart has highlighted another immunological process phagocytosis that is limited by eating simple carbs (sugar) but promoted by fasting! Thanks for pointing that out Stuart

The standard low carb dogma is that carbs (and to a lesser extent protein) stimulate insulin secretion which activates LPL (lipoprotein lipase) and LPL stores fat. That is true as far as it goes, but I've been learning - primarily through readng Lyle McDonald's Stubborn Fat Loss Solution that there is more to it that this. Apparently LPL is not the only - or the most important - enzyme associated with fat storage. Acylation Stimulating Protein ( ASP ) appears - in rats at least (and how applicable this is to humans I'm not sure ) - to be even more critical for fat storage than LPL. It is worth doing a pubmed search on ASP (e.g. here ) I'm still thinking through what all this means for my own fatty diet. Anyway, that is tangential to what I wanted to post. This popped up in three sources today: NSAID Improves Insulin Secretion in Obesity Aspirin-like compounds increase insulin secretion in otherwise healthy obese people Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) can cla...

I will have to try these.....