Conditioning Research

I suppose this is something of an appendix to the post I had the other day - A few things I've learned recently (mainly from Dan John). We hear a lot about setting targets and goals in our training.  Sometimes we see strength standards posted:  e.g. you should be able to do 50 pushups, 15 bodyweight rows, bench 1.5 bodyweight, do a 5k in 20 minutes or whatever.  All decent goals.  But sometimes goals can be distracting. Here is a good goal:   Just show up. Workout by workout, do the work.  You do not need to set records, you do not need to progress.  Simply do the workout.  Warmup, workout and go home.  But do the work.  Consistent hard work will pay off in the long run. I was talking to my pal Colin Gordon this morning as he treated my back (he is an excellent massage therapist).  He made the point that sometimes the more you focus on a goal, the further away it seems.  If you simply  focus on consistently showi...

No secrets but there is science One of the themes on this blog recently has been that I am tired of gurus.  I have realised as I get longer in the tooth and a bit more cynical that there are no real secrets in this game.  Movement, resistance training, sufficient sleep, a sensible diet - they matter.  Above all, patience and persistence.  There is no magic diet, no new exercise protocol that will suddenly turn you into a lean super athlete. With that context however there are still some good products out there - there are still people writing quality material.  There are still things to learn even if there is no magic.  The stuff that matters is the science, the evidence-based material.  Indeed, it is the science that can expose the fabrications of the gurus. So many of the myths and misdirections are around diet.  The need to eat low carb, or paleo or in certain eating windows.  To avoid sugar or fat.  To think that calories don'...

A few things I've been thinking about.  Lots of them incidentally prompted by reading and listening to Dan John . Get off my back – there are times in life when you realise enough is enough. I am strong enough, flexible enough, lean enough. Let’s lose the stress of always trying to improve and just recognise that where we are is actually OK. The challenge is actually maintenance. Can you stay lean, flexible and strong as the years roll by? Can you stay injury free, mobile and capable as you get older? There are seasons – bus bench/park bench whatever. Sometimes life is crappy. Work is hard and long. Your parents get ill. You argue with your girlfriend. You get ill or injured. Those are not the times to go all out balls to the wall in your training. Macho Nietzsche quotes are just stupid. Work hard when the rest of life is smooth push hard. If you are working 12 hour days and stressed about your family, then cool it off. Keep moving but that is enough. This is not the time to ...

There is a lot of impressive tumbling here, but look what happens at 1:42 with the Ab Wheel.

Always strive to add another rep, or a pound to the bar or another second to the length of the set!!! You will have heard similar things.  The gurus shout at us and encourage us to try harder to push more to seek improvement and growth at every opportunity.  Nietzsche is invoked as we strive ever harder to get better, stronger, bigger.  I've probably done the same thing myself - urged you to push for that extra rep that next rung on the ladder. Well I am tired of it.  Maybe it is my age or other things going on in my life, but at the moment I am tired with trying to improve.  I just want to keep where I am. Maintenance is progress I was thinking about training and exercise today in the context of the rest of life.  "Life" as the big stuff - lifetimes, relationships, death, decline and age.  With that in the background I was struck with the idea that as we get older, simply staying where we are is progress. Whatever we do we are getting older...

I just wanted to point to this interesting study which I saw a couple of weeks ago, r eported in Runners World by Alex Hutchison . Maximal step-up height as a simple and relevant health indicator: a study of leg muscle strength and the associations to age, anthropometric variables, aerobic fitness and physical function. Really interesting in the light of the stuff I've had up before about floor living and another test for function - simply getting up off the floor . All these things are tests - not exercises.  But they are interesting toys to play with.  If you can step up high, get down to and up from the floor then you are doing OK.  If your training is retaining and promoting such function then you are going in the right direciton