Conditioning Research

I've had a bad back the last week or so. Work has been busy recently and I've been doing 10-12 hour days over the last few weeks. Lots of sitting and lots of stress too. The lower back was getting very tight but it would always loosen off quite quickly when I started moving. Then last week we were out for lunch at a pub in the country and afterwards while walking round the loch I decided to climb a tree (!) and I got this massive back spasm that I've been recovering from all week. I've had episodes of back pain over the last 15 or so years and am used to it but each time it really makes me appreciate basic health and fitness. When you cannot move due to intense muscle spasms literally immobilising you, when you cannot put your own socks on or wipe your own arse then all this health and conditioning discussion seems a bit stupid. It is only when you are injured that you truly appreciate what it is to be fit, mobile and healthy. Of course when you are well, you soon...

So it looks like taking protein helps but it doesn't matter when you take it..... (UPDATE - as Jeremy points out in the comments, you can also read this as saying that the supplement doesn't make any difference at all.....) Effect of protein-supplement timing on strength, power, and body-composition changes in resistance-trained men. The effect of 10 wk of protein-supplement timing on strength, power, and body composition was examined in 33 resistance-trained men. Participants were randomly assigned to a protein supplement either provided in the morning and evening (n = 13) or provided immediately before and immediately after workouts (n = 13). In addition, 7 participants agreed to serve as a control group and did not use any protein or other nutritional supplement. During each testing session participants were assessed for strength (one-repetition-maximum [1RM] bench press and squat), power (5 repetitions performed at 80% of 1RM in both the bench press and the squat), and bo...

This blog has gone a wee bit quiet of late. Apologies for that, but I've been busy at work. I'll catch up soon.

This isn't exactly fitness related but it is absolutely fascinating Check out this illusion: The break of the curveball

This looks interesting. Does Training Fasted make you fast? Does anyone have access to the full article?

I've had posts up here before about how low carb / ketogenic diet can limit or even reverse cancer growth. unlike healthy cells, which generate energy by metabolizing sugar in their mitochondria, cancer cells appeared to fuel themselves exclusively through glycolysis, a less-efficient means of creating energy through the fermentation of sugar in the cytoplasm. The theory is simple: If most aggressive cancers rely on the fermentation of sugar for growing and dividing, then take away the sugar and they should stop spreading. Meanwhile, normal body and brain cells should be able to handle the sugar starvation; they can switch to generating energy from fatty molecules called ketone bodies — the body's main source of energy on a fat-rich diet — an ability that some or most fast-growing and invasive cancers seem to lack. Here is another one Carbohydrate restriction may slow prostate tumor growth "The mice that were fed a no-carbohydrate diet experienced a 40 to 50 percent prolo...

Wear and tear. The progressive damage caused by repetitive movements. This is not the main topic of Doug McGuff's talk here but it is one that is really important to me now. I'm 41 and being injury free is now very important. Professionally I can't afford days off right now. Yet I sometimes think that some of my training over the years how damaged me rather than protected me. I don't want to get all wimpy and scared of movement, but I do want to be aware of the positive and negatives.