Conditioning Research

Last week I had a chat over Skype with Matt Metzgar and Marc Van Dam  (of Feel Good Eating ).  I suppose you could call it a podcast of sorts, but none of us would want to come across as gurus.  We just discussed a few things together, things in which we are interested and around which we have each pondered over the last few years. Matt recorded the conversation and we have been trying to work out how to host it on our blogs.  I think I have managed it!  This was the first time each of us had done this and I know we felt like we rambled a bit, but the key thing was that we enjoyed the chat and we are sharing it so that you can listen in too. (or download the mp3 ) We talked through the following topics 1) Strength – 05:44 2) Sleep – 19:10 3) Quick Simple Meals – 24:45 4) Skill/Efficient Movement - 32:12 5) Chronic Cardio – 40:00 6) Posture/Abs - 51:35 7) Stress - 58:50 8) Heart Disease - 1:03:50 9) Good Thoughts - 1:11:0...

Bruce Lee is quoted as saying, "Before I learned martial arts, a punch was just a punch and a kick was just a kick. When I studied martial arts, a punch was no longer just a punch and a kick was no longer just a kick. Now I understand martial arts, and a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick." I was thinking of this idea this morning as I was walking in the hills  near Edinburgh in some wild weather.  Yesterday afternoon I had the great pleasure of a Skype conversation with a couple of great guys - Marc and Matt.  If you are  not familiar with them please check out their blogs:  Marc - Feel Good Eating Matt - Matt Metzgar  Musings on Health & Other Topics We spoke about a number of things but kept coming back to the simple ideas:  go to bed early, eat well, stand up straight, cultivate friendships, look on the bright side, get and stay strong, play. Like Bruce Lee says, we can get ourselves so enmeshed in the compl...

I want that blogger's secret knowledge Increasingly I am finding that so much of the fitness & fitness blogosphere is a strange place which I am seeing more as a form of gnosticism.  Let me explain: Gnosticism I suppose is something of a theological term.   From Wikipedia Gnosticism comes from the Greek : gnosis which means knowledge. Some religions and sects mostly in the few hundred years before and after Christ are said to be gnostic or practice gnosticism. This is because these religions believe that there is a special, hidden knowledge that only a few people may have . Not to get into the theological aspects of all this, look at that last sentence: these religions believe that there is a special, hidden knowledge that only a few people may have.   Gurus & Salesmen So often we treat our interest in Health and Fitness this way.  We are on a constant search for the  "special, hidden knowledge".  The are looking f...

eggs are not so bad after all: Use 'em, don't lose 'em! Eating egg yolks adds nutritious benefits New research suggests that consuming whole eggs may improve blood lipids Of course eggs are nutritious.  Funny of course that the press release is from the American Egg Board! About the American Egg Board (AEB) AEB is the U.S. egg producer's link to the consumer in communicating the value of The incredible edible egg™ and is funded from a national legislative checkoff on all egg production from companies with greater than 75,000 layers, in the continental United States. The board consists of 18 members and 18 alternates from all regions of the country who are appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. The AEB staff carries out the programs under the board direction. AEB is located in Park Ridge, Ill. Visit  www.IncredibleEgg.org  for more information.

This is a topic that keeps coming up time and time again.  It may be another example of us always seeking the secret knowledge, the magic key that will suddenly solve all our problems with muscle gain and fat loss.... Anyway there is research going on.  This full paper is available Protein timing and its effects on muscular hypertrophy and strength in individuals engaged in weight-training In general, protein supplementation pre- and post-workout increases physical performance, training session recovery, lean body mass, muscle hypertrophy, and strength

It was good to interview and train with Erwan  over 2 years ago..... Be sure to check out his new website and podcast

So what the heck is a Hoo-rag ?  That is what I thought when I received the email asking if I wanted to try one and write a review.  Intrigued I asked if they would send one to Scotland and there was no problem.  A week later it arrived. Ah.....it is a Buff!  Well it is similar but the Hoo-rag is its own thing. Maybe you are none the wiser?  These bits of clothing are very versatile and useful items that I have come to trust and rely on in both hot and cold weather.  A simple, seamless tube of lightweight, wicking cotton/polyester that can serve in lots of ways.  I use mine as a hat - they make simple beanies;  a wrap around my wrist to soak up sweat; a bandana.....and most often a neck gaiter on cold days.  Best of all on a cold day is pulling the tube up from around the neck so that it covers the mouth and nose and ears. Breathing in and out through the material warms to freezing air and takes the chil...

Tom Furman has posted a good piece on diet.  He traces out some of my own journey here too. Why I Eat The Way I Do : Diet is an emotionally fueled issue. Quite often training for strength or training for sports is performance based. Put up or shut up. However for one reason or another, "belief" and therefore "faith" enters into eating habits. I was certainly one of those people years ago. I did things and said things that made sense then, but are fundamentally wrong based on evidence. Remember that word, evidence. 

In the old days...pre-internet I got my information from magazines.  I remember an article in the old Ironman or maybe it was Hardgainer which laid out a basic routine.  Then it told you to stick to it until the next issue of the magazine came out in 2 months .  8 weeks of consistency. Now we do not get new information every 2 months.... it comes everyday, every hour as the RSS feeds pump out new stuff.  We are distracted.  Try this, try that. What we need is not just habit but consistency.  Stick to some basics for a while.  Sleep.  Eat well.  Walk.  Train some basics  Don't swap from programme to programme, diet to diet, approach to approach.  Just keep going...

I intend to do a more detailed diet update in the future following on from my post a while ago where I highlighted my experience with a Leangains Intermittent Fasting approach. The obliques are coming in! For now, just a couple of photos.  I have lost maybe a couple of pounds since the last photos, putting me at about 154lb. You can see my obliques coming in now. I have some loose skin on my lower abs which I hope will go as I get leaner. I am no longer fasting.  I east 3-4 times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner plus a snack. I walk a lot and train in the gym once a week. Diet sorts out definition.  Calories are important.  Control those and you will control your weight.  Diet composition? - follow the bodybuilders: set calories, get enough protein and fill in the rest as you wish ...and my arms are still there....

I've been following a writer / trainer for a little while who has a blog called Go Kaleo .  I like her approach a lot. She put this on Facebook which is worth repeating The secret to weight loss and improved health and fitness isn't paleo/low carb/plant based/low fat/crossfit/yoga/pilates/raw/isagenix/shakeology/protein/etc. The secret to weight loss and improved health and fitness is: Good habits, practiced consistently, over time. Sorry it's so boring. That fits with a lot of what I am thinking about at the moment - so many are searching fo the magic secret knowledge that will solve all of their training  diet and health problems.  We disciple ourselves to guru after guru  as we look for that secret - low carb, paleo, vegan, cardio, zumba etc etc etc.  But the basics, the sensible basics remain.  We blame our fatness or unhealthiness on gluten or casein or carbs or fat or something.  But we ignore sleep, relaxation, walking, real...

From Scientific American

Cyclists' improvement of pedaling efficacy and performance after heavy strength training. Abstract The authors tested whether heavy strength training, including hip-flexion exercise, would reduce the extent of the phase in the crank revolution where negative or retarding crank torque occurs. Negative torque normally occurs in the upstroke phase when the leg is lifted by flexing the hip. Eighteen well-trained cyclists either performed 12 wk of heavy strength training in addition to their usual endurance training (E+S; n = 10) or merely continued their usual endurance training during the intervention period (E; n = 8). The strength training consisted of 4 lower body exercises (3 × 4-10 repetition maximum) performed twice a week. E+S enhanced cycling performance by 7%, which was more than in E (P = .02). Performance was determined as average power output in a 5-min all-out trial performed subsequent to 185 min of submaximal cycling. The performance enhancement, which has...

Maybe.... Stem cells, angiogenesis and muscle healing: a potential role in massage therapies? Abstract Skeletal muscle injuries are among the most common and frequently disabling injuries sustained by athletes.Repair of injured skeletal muscle is an area that continues to present a challenge for sports medicine clinicians and researchers due, in part, to complete muscle recovery being compromised by development of fibrosis leading to loss of function and susceptibility to re-injury.Injured skeletal muscle goes through a series of coordinated and interrelated phases of healing including degeneration, inflammation, regeneration and fibrosis. Muscle regeneration initiated shortly after injury can be limited by fibrosis which affects the degree of recovery and predisposes the muscle to reinjury. It has been demonstrated in animal studies that antifibrotic agents that inactivate transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 have been effective at decreasing scar tissue form...

This is a clever little infographic. Click away

A couple of days ago I posted a video of James O'Keefe talking about the potential dangers of running too much.   His research and presentation has got a fair bit of coverage - e.g. in the Wall Street Journal . His position and presentation are quite compelling, but perhaps are not the whole story. Alex Hutchinson points out some of the concerns about the research : The Too-Much-Running Myth Rises Again The Sock Doc also has just written a post closely examining O'Keefe's argument and the way in which it has been popularised.  Definitely worth reading: Enough of the Aerobic and Endurance Bashing Fostered by “New Research” and Personal Agendas Remember: Always health first, fitness second. So train smart and train hard when you can and you’re ready to do so. Training hard is good for you, but do not do such extreme training too often.  I love training hard, but I am intentional about it and only when my health is optimal a...