Conditioning Research

there is also some interesting commentary with videos of the same guy missing at 42"

Again the full text of this one is available and - if you are interested in this topic then I would suggest you read the whole thing. Here is the summary: The impact of resistance training on muscle hypertrophy is well known. For years, resistance training athletes have been interested in identifying which forms of nutritional supplementation will provide the greatest support in an effort to maximize the training adaptations from resistance training. Many findings and suggestions have been reported in this regard and are outlined below: • Resistance training modestly stimulates protein synthesis and further stimulates protein breakdown resulting an overall negative protein balance after exercise. • As the training status of an individual progresses, the magnitude of changes seen in protein synthesis and breakdown diminishes after each exercise bout as well as a diminished increase of protein synthesis after each subsequent exercise bout. • Infusion or ingestion of amino acids is an ef...

One of the things that is not discussed that often with respect to nutrition at least, is that men and women are different. (Of course they are, I've noticed) Hormonally and in terms of their broader physiology there are significant differences. Lyle McDonald talks about this a bit in his Stubborn Fat book but I've not seen it addressed much elsewhere. Anyway, this is an interesting study - the full text of which is available - it is mainly about carb loading for endurance events (a topic also discussed here recently strangely in the context of intermittent fasting ) but there is good stuff there about how carbs are actually burned and how men and women differ in this respect. The abstract is below Gender differences in carbohydrate metabolism and carbohydrate loading. Prior to endurance competition, many endurance athletes participate in a carbohydrate loading regimen in order to help delay the onset of fatigue. The "classic" regimen generally includes an inten...

I find this one pretty interesting. I'm not immediately sure what the application is but there are some intriguing issues here. The experimenters looked at how many reps guys could do with 70% of their 1 rep max and then correlated this with different measures of the physiological make up of the muscles. Anyway, they found that the fibre type was not that important but that the capilliary density was the important factor. There are trainers out there that make a lot out of the different fibre types. In this - admittedly specific - case that was not the important factor. Application? If you want to maximise your reps at 70% of 1 rep max work to increase the capilliary density in the muscles. Now how do you do that? Fiber Type Composition and Capillary Density in Relation to Submaximal Number of Repetitions in Resistance Exercise. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between skeletal muscle fiber type composition and the maximum number of repetition...

Spotted a couple of interesting protein studies today, both of which seem to indicate that moderate protein intake is enough....... Moderate protein intake improves total and regional body composition and insulin sensitivity in overweight adults. A high protein intake (~40% of energy intake) combined with aerobic and resistance exercise training is more closely associated with improved body composition and cardiovascular risk profile than a traditional protein intake (~15% of intake) combined with moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. However, there is concern that such high-protein diets may adversely affect health. We therefore tested the hypothesis that moderate protein intake (~25% of energy intake) would elicit similar benefits on body composition and metabolic profile as high protein intake. Twenty-four overweight/obese men and women (body mass index [BMI] = 32.2 +/- 3.4, percentage of body fat [%BF] = 37.3 +/- 8.0) were matched for BMI and %BF and randomly assigned to one of 3 gr...

In all the discussion of the composition of diets - low fat or low carb etc - and the potential for "metabolic advantage" we can sometimes forget the simple fact that calories still matter. If you are eating too much, you are not going to lose weight no matter how low your carbs are. Dr Eades had a post on this today: Low carb and calories Although the lowered insulin and elevated glucagon open the doors to the fat cells allowing fat to come out to be burned, the fat comes out only if it’s needed. If you are meeting all your body’s energy needs with the food you eat, the body doesn’t need the fat in the fat cells. On a low-carb diet your body burns fat for energy. But it doesn’t care where this fat comes from; it can come from the diet or it can come from the fat cells or it can come from both. If you are consuming enough fat to meet all your body’s requirements, your body won’t go after the fat in the fat cells no matter how severely you restrict your carbs. You will burn...

Exercise can benefit the bone mineral density which is a good thing - especially in older women who are prone to osteoporosis. However, you have to keep it up to maintain the benefits....... The beneficial effects of exercise on BMD are lost after cessation: a 5-year follow-up in older post-menopausal women This study investigates whether the positive effects on bone mineral density (BMD, g/cm2) and neuromuscular function following a combined weight-bearing program are sustained in older women, a longer period after cessation of training. Thirty-four women (18 exercisers and 16 controls) aged 73–88 years, who completed a 12-month randomized-controlled trial, were invited to a 5-year follow-up assessment of BMD and neuromuscular function. Both groups sustained significant losses in BMD of the femoral neck, trochanter, and Ward's triangle during the follow-up period. Significant losses were also seen in all neuromuscular function tests. The inter-group change was, however, significa...