Conditioning Research

I first came across the concept of tensegrity a while ago when I read a book called Anatomy Trains . The idea is that we are not about individual muscles. Rather individual muscels are actually linked together functionally. There is a bag of fascia around groups of muscles. A guy called Tom Myers wrote the book and developed the idea really from looking at disections. Everything is connected. It is a really interesting concept with lots of applications in sports and massage and it is worth reading the book and at least looking at some of the stuff on his website . Anyway I spotted this article today that seems to indicate that there is something to i t: Tensegrity principle in massage demonstrated by electro- and mechanomyography. Based on a tensegrity principle, direct or indirect connections between fascia or muscles which stretch the aponeurosis or intermuscular septum may allow the transfer of tension over long distances, without loss of muscle force produced during rest and a...

An interesting story. ?Association or causation? AUGUSTA, Ga. – People with schizophrenia are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers have found. In a study of 50 people newly-diagnosed with schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder with no other known risk factors, 16 percent had either diabetes or an abnormal rate of glucose metabolism, says Dr. Brian Kirkpatrick, vice chair of the MCG Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. In a similar size control group of people without schizophrenia, none had signs of or had developed the disease. People with diabetes cannot produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that converts glucose, starches and other food into energy.

That was one of the things that came strongly out of my interview last week with Doug McGuff . Get stronger using appropriate rational strength training. Then, through skill training, apply that new strength to your sport. The idea is that skill training is really specific, so if you want to get better at a skill you have to practice that skill....exactly. For example say you want to train a throwing movement, maybe throwing a cricket ball. You decide to simulate the movement with a 5lb dumbell. The mechanics of throwing a 5lb dumbell will be very different from those of throwing a ball. When you go back to throwing a ball you are having to learn a new skill. Doug would say that the rational thing to do is to develop overall strength with weights and then improve your skill at throwing the cricket ball. This - by the way - is challenging some of the things I've pointed to in the past about the value of "functional" training. Anyway, I spotted this study that seem...

Last week I posted an interview that I had done with Doug McGuff, co-author of Body by Science . A couple of days ago Doug featured in Jimmy Moore's podcast with an interesting interview that covers much of the material that is in the book. There is some good stuff in there.

Jumping from foam is much harder than jumping from a hard surface because your force is absorbed into the foam (which obviously has much more "give" to it than a hard gym floor).

Apart from the amazing athleticism of this, I find it really interesting to watch them running round my city of Edinburgh. They picked one of the few sunny days!

Natural Athlete has a really interesting post: a fascinating article about the physical activity patterns of a couple modern hunter forager tribes something that should be of interest to anyone who believes in an evolutionary approach to fitness. A day in the life of a Hunter forager .