I'm not sure what to make of this and without the full paper it is always hard to know what it really says. However, from the abstract they seem to be claiming that a protocol that avoids failure achieves maximum recruitment of motor units. What is interesting is that muscle fibre recruitment was higher towards the end of the 15 rep set - which was going to failure - than the heavy 3 rep max set. This is the size principle at work!
The thing about failure though is that you know that you are there. Stopping 3 reps short of failure is one thing...but unless you fail how do you know when you were 3 reps away from failure?! Fail and then you are certain you were there.
UPDATE
James Steele has now analysed this paper and offers some very insightful comments on his blog:
Going to failure, or not, has probably been one of the most debated issues during the history of strength training. However, few studies have directly compared the physiological effect of failure vs. nonfailure strength training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate muscle activation strategies with electromyography (EMG) during heavy repetitions vs. repetitions to failure with lighter resistance. Fifteen healthy untrained women performed a set with heavy loading (3 repetition maximum [RM]) and a set of repetitions to failure with lower resistance (∼15 RM) during lateral raise with elastic tubing. Electromyographic amplitude and median power frequency of specific shoulder and neck muscles were analyzed, and the BORG CR10 scale was used to rate perceived loading immediately after each set of exercise. During the failure set, normalized EMG was significantly lower during the first repetition and significantly higher during the latter repetitions compared with the heavy 3-RM set (p < 0.05). Normalized EMG for the examined muscles increased throughout the set to failure in a curvilinear fashion—e.g., for the trapezius from 86 to 124% maximal voluntary contraction (p < 0.001)—and reached a plateau during the final 3–5 repetitions before failure. Median power frequency for all examined muscles decreased throughout the set to failure in a linear fashion, indicating progressively increasing fatigue.
In conclusion, going to complete failure during lateral raise is not necessary to recruit the entire motor unit pool in untrained women—i.e., muscle activity reached a plateau 3–5 repetitions from failure with an elastic resistance of approximately 15 RM.
Furthermore, strengthening exercises performed with elastic tubing seem to be an efficient resistance exercise and a feasible and practical alternative to traditional resistance equipment.
What time of day is best for training. From this study it looks like the answer is .....whenever you usually train....although in general it looks like late afternoon is best for strength training. That will be just after work then.
This article focuses on physical performances after training at a specific time of day. To date, although the effect of time of day on aerobic performances appears to be equivocal, during anaerobic exercises, the effect of time of day has been well established with early morning nadirs and peak performances in the late afternoon. These diurnal rhythms can be influenced by several factors such as the regular training at a specific time of day. Indeed, regular training in the morning hours may increase the lower morning performances to the same or even higher level as their normal diurnal peak typically observed in the late afternoon by a greater increase of performance in the evening. However, regular training in the evening hours may increase the morning-evening (i.e., amplitude of the rhythm) difference by a greater increase of performance in the late afternoon. Therefore, adaptations to training are greater at the time of day at which training is regularly performed than at other times. Nevertheless, although modifications in resting hormones concentrations could explain this time-of-day specific adaptations, precise information on the underlying mechanisms is lacking.
The (BMI) Body Mass Index is a value you can use to determine whether you are overweight, underweight or ideal weight. The BMI is calculated by a simple formula with which the relationship between body size and weight is determined. According to the classification of the BMI of women between 19 and 24, men 20 to 25
If your BMI is higher than 30, you are very overweight. You should urgently consult your doctor and discuss it with an appropriate diet Plans. Please note that the BMI is not suitable for determining the ideal weight of very muscular men. For people with missing limbs must be taken into account in the calculation of BMI specific correction values. We have a BMI calculator for people with amputations programmed.
From a body mass index of 30 is present with obesity, which can be treated. The calculation of BMI is simple and can also be calculated on the Internet with the help of various providers. The BMI is body weight in kilograms divided by height squared. A heavy 55kg and 1.60m tall woman has a BMI of 21 has Depending on the woman's age, this value is in the lower range and is already underweight dar.
In men, however, the normal values of BMI are higher than for women because men have more muscle mass than women. The BMI is partly due to its inaccuracy very controversial, because he has no information on the percentage of body fat is. Athletes have for example a higher muscle mass and thus achieve a higher BMI, which would not normally be overweight. The BMI takes into account the stature of the man's wife or not, but this diagnosis to determine the over-or underweight is absolutely necessary. Absence of a person one or more limbs, BMI can not be calculated in the normal way.
Using a table must be here until the theoretical body weight can be calculated that the person would weigh with all limbs. This weight is then used in the described formula.
Evaluation of the BMI
To determine if you are overweight or normal weight, it is not enough alone to measure "BMI" to consider. Essential to the assessment, is how to compose the body weight. A muscular strength athletes due to the weight of above-average muscle mass much more than an average-built man and may well also have a BMI of 30, without that he is regarded as overweight. For the "average citizen" of BMI is definitely a useful measure to assess whether he is underweight, overweight or normal weight.
Basically: If the BMI in the upper normal range or above should already be covered nutrition. A healthy low fat diet with fruits and vegetables will bring the BMI in most cases down to the normal range!
If you have a couple of hours (!) you might like to watch this. i haven't had a chance yet, but if you have let me know what you think in the comments.
I've posted the above picture to show that leptin secretion increases non-linearly with increasing culture period. As adipocyte content almost certainly increases non-linearly with increasing culture period (likeTHIS), leptin secretion almost certainly increases very non-linearly with increasing adipocyte content. As adipocyte content increases, there's no/minimal leptin secretion up to a certain level of fullness. Above this level of fullness, leptin secretion increases rapidly. What this means is that reducing adipocyte content by x% reduces leptin secretion by much more than x%.
If somebody's adipocytes become 100% full due to caloric excess, there are two extreme possibilities.
1a: If there is continued caloric excess, no preadipocytes are converted into adipocytes. There is no storage capacity available for excess nutrients, so they remain in circulation. T2DM has developed - BAD.
1b: If there is subsequent caloric deficit, adipocytes start to deplete, storage capacity becomes available and T2DM goes away (if beta cells haven't been completely destroyed in the meantime). The relatively full adipocytes secrete plenty of leptin, so metabolic rate is high and hunger is low - GOOD.
2a: If there is continued caloric excess, pre-adipocytes are converted into adipocytes. This is adipocyte hyperplasia. There is storage capacity available for excess nutrients, so T2DM doesn't develop - GOOD.
2b: If there is subsequent caloric deficit, adipocytes start to deplete. However, there are more adipocytes than in 1), so for a given fat mass, adipocytes are emptier than in 1). The greater number of emptier adipocytes secrete less leptin than in 1), so metabolic rate is lower and hunger is higher than in 1) - BAD.
Adipocyte hyperplasia is good for preventing T2DM as fat mass increases, but bad for metabolic rate and hunger after subsequent fat mass loss. I believe that growing children are much more likely to get adipocyte hyperplasia than adults. Therefore, childhood obesity is highly likely to result in misery after subsequent fat mass loss. This is why I believe that growing children should be protected from the evul greedy manufacturers of Crap-in-a-Bag/Box/Bottle (CIAB).
EDIT: Jane Karlsson just e-mailed me a link to the following study:- Adipocyte Turnover: Relevance to Human Adipose Tissue Morphology. "Occurrence of hyperplasia (negative morphology value) or hypertrophy (positive morphology value) was independent of sex and body weight but correlated with fasting plasma insulin levels and insulin sensitivity, independent of adipocyte volume (β-coefficient = 0.3, P < 0.0001). Total adipocyte number and morphology were negatively related (r = −0.66); i.e., the total adipocyte number was greatest in pronounced hyperplasia and smallest in pronounced hypertrophy. The absolute number of new adipocytes generated each year was 70% lower (P < 0.001) in hypertrophy than in hyperplasia, and individual values for adipocyte generation and morphology were strongly related (r = 0.7, P < 0.001). The relative death rate (∼10% per year) or mean age of adipocytes (∼10 years) was not correlated with morphology."
So, if you want to remain slim, high fasting serum insulin (due to hepatic and/or muscular insulin resistance) is bad mmm-kay?
These two came out last week and I thought I'd pop them up here for your interest. Incidentally I suspect that most of the benefits of HIIT could be attained more quickly and with less risk, through proper resistance training.....but that is a different issue.
Twelve weeks of HIIE resulted in significant reductions in total, abdominal, trunk, and visceral fat and significant increases in fat free mass and aerobic power.
The actual protocol was quite tough by the look of it:
Subjects in the exercise group completed supervised exercise (8 s sprint, 12 s recovery) continuously throughout each 20-min session. The HIIE workload was set at 80–90% of each subject’s heart rate (HR) peak at a cadence between 120 and 130 r.p.m and recovery was set at the same amount of resistance but at a cadence of 40 r.p.m. Subjects were instructed to keep their exercise intensity at a level necessary to produce a HR between 80–90% of HR peak. As subjects adapted to HIIE training, workload was increased so HR stayed at the appropriate 80–90% HR peak level. HIIE was coordinated with a prerecorded compact disc counting down each sprint in a 3-2-1 manner. Subjects performed a 5-min warm-up and cool-down on the bike prior to and after each exercise session. All training cycling data included continuous recording of HR and r.p.m, whereas rating of perceived exertion [13] (RPE) was assessed at 5-min intervals.
Essential arterial hypertension is the most common risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Regular exercise is a well-established intervention for the prevention and treatment of hypertension. Continuous moderate-intensity exercise training (CMT) that can be sustained for 30 min or more has been traditionally recommended for hypertension prevention and treatment. On the other hand, several studies have shown that high-intensity interval training (HIT), which consists of several bouts of high-intensity exercise (~85% to 95% of HR(MAX) and/or VO(2MAX) lasting 1 to 4 min interspersed with intervals of rest or active recovery, is superior to CMT for improving cardiorespiratory fitness, endothelial function and its markers, insulin sensitivity, markers of sympathetic activity and arterial stiffness in hypertensive and normotensive at high familial risk for hypertension subjects. This compelling evidence suggesting larger beneficial effects of HIT for several factors involved in the pathophysiology of hypertension raises the hypothesis that HIT may be more effective for preventing and controlling hypertension.
Why try to slim ? There is no better reason to diet than seeking to improve your health and your well-being. People who are overweight know better than anyone the risks and possible consequences that may result from their excess weight.
While being overweight does not seem at first sight as dangerous as smoking is not a problem to take lightly.
We are not talking here of cancer but primarily important cardiac risk, cholesterol levels are too high and muscle and bone pain may be permanent.
That your eating habits were born addicted to certain foods, an emotional need, or years of poor nutrition is not important.
As you will not take the problem head on it will remain what it is: a problem to solve.
Change your eating habits from now is a real lifestyle choice. The secret is to determine exactly what you need to change on your plate. You will be unable to slim sustainably without taking this step.
This is not to become a person permanently to the plan: there is no pleasure in it. And frankly spend their Christmas Eve with a lettuce leaf and a pea on the plate (I'm exaggerating of course) it's not festive.
Slim This is not to impose restrictions permanently. It's a balance.
Finding the right direction to follow is essential to successfully lose weight because dieting switch to a slimming cure is not a desirable lifestyle.
This not only causes stress and frustration but it also puts you in a weight curve so yo-yo. In fact you take more weight than you would have lost by moving from Plan A to the soup that makes you lose weight.
Step 1 : What problem keeps you from losing weight?
All these methods are very effective and help grow your despair. We must begin by identifying the source of your problem:
You overeat and do not know stop you
You eat too much fat
You eat too much sugar
You can not stop you from snacking
Step 2 The past is the past!
You have identified the source of your weight problem. Now accept your past mistakes to get back in the right direction. Without these two essential steps be assured that no regime, no effort to lose weight will not work for you. It should be a clear plan will not magically erase any excess weight.
Regime accompanied by an awareness and a change in eating habits and lifestyle will help you lose weight and more importantly to keep it off.
It's also a story of determination: you should not change at all while one week. Depriving yourself of things you enjoy most may have a negative effect on your morale. You would take a dislike to your efforts.
The barbell sits there, inert, not wanting anything, not expecting anything of me. It becomes a simple tool, one that must only be lifted up, against the forces created by a massive Earth, and put back down. A simple tool that is practice for a way of living — a bell of mindfulness.
"Input" represents Glucose from digested sugars and starches. The arrow pointing at AOL represents Blood Glucose (BG). The triangle containing AOL represents pancreatic beta cells. "Output" represents Insulin Secretion (ISec). More BG = More ISec.
The box containing ß represents three things that work in parallel to reduce Blood Glucose. 1) The Liver. More ISec = Less BG Production. 2) Muscle mass. More ISec = More BG imported to Muscle mass, via Glu-T4. 3) Fat mass. More ISec = More BG imported to Fat mass, via Glu-T4. The three things aren't of equal strength, but they provide overall negative feedback.
If overall negative feedback is halved due to doubling of overall IR in the above three paths, ISec doubles. If you don't believe me, see Idealised Negative Feedback Inverting Amplifier using an idealised op amp on WolframAlpha. Double the value of resistance 2 (the negative feedback resistor Rf) from 10,000ohms to 20,000ohms and the output voltage on the inverting amplifier doubles from -10V to -20V.
The idealised Negative Feedback Inverting Amplifier using an idealised op amp on WolframAlpha is interesting in that an idealised op amp (the triangle with + and - inputs) has infinite gain and infinite voltage on its power supplies. As a result, there is zero volts (output voltage divided by infinity) between the idealised op amp's + terminal and its - terminal. If the idealised op amp's + terminal is connected to 0V (a.k.a. "Earth"), its - terminal is at 0V (a.k.a. "Virtual Earth") and has zero variation, whatever the input voltage. An actual op amp has a voltage gain of ~140dB (~10,000,000), so an output voltage of -10V can be achieved with a voltage of 1uV (one millionth of a Volt) on its - terminal.
If pancreatic beta cells had a zero threshold and infinite gain like an idealised op amp, BG would be zero and have zero variation with varying Glucose input. Pancreatic beta cells actually have a positive threshold and low gain, so BG is positive and has significant variation with varying Glucose input.
If ISec becomes zero (as in type 1 diabetes), there is zero negative feedback and BG goes up a lot. The same thing happens to the voltage on the idealised op amp's - terminal if its power supplies are 0V instead of infinite.
If ISec becomes insufficient (as in type 2 diabetes), there is insufficient negative feedback and BG goes up a bit. The same thing happens to the voltage on the idealised op amp's - terminal if its power supplies are 5V.
Having established that ISec is proportional to overall IR, what would happen if overall IR was proportional to ISec? If ISec doubled, overall IR would double, which would double ISec, which would double overall IR, ad infinitum. ISec would increase to maximum. THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN. Therefore, IR doesn't increase in proportion to ISec, short term.
Long-term, increased ISec increases IR for a variety of reasons, one of them being that increased ISec increases the rate at which cells fill with glycogen. Once full of glycogen, cells must down-regulate their import by down-regulating Glu-T4 and Glu-T2 (fat and liver cells also up-regulate their export of stuff) or rupture.
Are Vitamins and Food supplements necessary? Clearly answered in the affirmative. But is that really so? The positive image of these chemical manufacturers is still unknown. Often consumers have drawn the conclusion that fruit and vegetables are not required to stay healthy. Lately, however, indications are growing that this Food supplements more harmful than healthy.
Today, research is the finding suggests that too many Vitamins health more harm. Between 20 and 30% of US adults take an occasional or even regular vitamin supplements. There is no scientifically sound and well-documented studies that prove that taking vitamin and mineral supplements have the same health effects, such as by eating fruits and vegetables. A balanced fitness and health diet plans with
• Five servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• Dairy products
• Grain Products
• Fish and meat (poultry)
ensuring an adequate supply of Vitamin sand all the necessary minerals. It should of course be taken in principle to the freshness and quality of individual foods. Low-fat dairy products can be enjoyed preferred grain products are important for the adequate supply of trace elements contained therein.
When healthy eating is not necessary vitamins and nutritional supplements
In order for the physical features and the biochemical processes in the body optimally, minerals, trace elements and vitamins are necessary. It is therefore not surprising that the body reacts in the absence or insufficient intake of symptoms. These might include fatigue or poor concentration. Existing illnesses may be adversely affected, different diseases are actually in direct connection with it. In a balanced health diet plans and a healthy lifestyle, the supply of vitamins and nutrients is guaranteed on a natural basis.
Supplied in the form of natural vitamins and minerals are of higher value and can be better utilized by the body and absorbed. Instead, the modern health diet plans of fast food or finished products to make healthier through vitamin supplements, you should prefer to switch to a healthy and natural health diet plans. This is especially the sensual pleasure of fresh and quality food in the foreground.
Anti-aging and nutritional supplements from 50plus
In the phase of life from the age of 50 plus a lot of women, but men also rely on health diet plans supplements for vitality and beauty. These are trace elements, especially selenium and others. Selenium is known as a radical scavenger and is designed to protect against harmful environmental influences. Silica is useful for a firm connective tissue and is therefore particularly at age 50 plus a premium. Biotin promotes healthy hair and nails strong and is seen particularly in combination with folic acid to be very effective. These minerals can actually be absorbed by high-quality nutritional supplements in the form, they are only available in natural foods at a very small part, and therefore provide only an inadequate supply.
Just what we all need, another cookbook! Everyone seems to be publishing books at the moment, particularly in the "Paleo" niche. Most don't add much to the sum of human knowledge. I wanted to call your attention to this one though.
It comes from a couple of British writers - Melanie Dobromylskyj and Karla Rohde - two school-friends who have pulled together a superb compendium of gluten free recipes in The Incidentally Gluten Free Cookbook.
This is a real paper book, not a cheap pdf (although cheap pdfs are not all bad) which through its 12 chapters presents a mouthwatering array of food that you can eat if you are avoiding gluten.
As an aside here I better mention that I am - as far as I can manage - gluten free. A couple of years ago I was getting more and more IBS. Stomach cramps, poor digestion and diarrhoea were regular companions which went when I cut out wheat. No beer, bread or pasta. No pastry..... thats it really. As long as I avoid them I am fine. I went to the doctor and they did a test for celiac disease - which my uncle has - and it came back negative. However the doctor said that with IBS if you avoid something and it makes it better - i.e. wheat for me - then avoid it...so I do.
Cakes and biscuits - here is where they get into their stride! You can tell that they like baking
Christmas food and drink - fancy Vanilla Kipferl?!
Useful Information
In the last chapter there is a nice explanation of Why Gluten is so Bad for So Many of Us written by Melanie's husband Peter. (Peter has some degree of fame in the world of the internet through his blgo Hyperlipid and I had the pleasure of visiting him and Melanie a couple of years ago when they were living in Scotland.) This section is really well drafted looking at some key problems that can be traced to gluten consumption for some people - for example leaky gut, autoimmune disease, a "stress" response in the gut.
There is all sorts of stuff in this book, with some excellent photos too! If you want a taste of the sort of things in the book, check out the blog Critters and Cake where some of the recipes are shared. Amid all the paleo orthorexia this is a nice old fashioned recipe book which makes you feel all warm and cozy, with memories of cake and biscuits on cold winters afternoons after school.
It is not a cheap book. You can blame that on Lulu, but that being said it is really good quality - nicely printed on good quality paper and it looks good in my kitchen!
a scale, pepper, olive oil and rice wine vinegar....oh and a recipe book!
Anyway, to sum up it is a great book and is highly recommended by me! Get your copy via Lulu through this link: The Incidentally Gluten Free Cookbook
The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between acute exercise-induced hormone responses and adaptations to high intensity resistance training in a large cohort (n = 56) of young men. Acute post-exercise serum growth hormone (GH), free testosterone (fT), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and cortisol responses were determined following an acute intense leg resistance exercise routine at the midpoint of a 12-week resistance exercise training study. Acute hormonal responses were correlated with gains in lean body mass (LBM), muscle fibre cross-sectional area (CSA) and leg press strength. There were no significant correlations between the exercise-induced elevations (area under the curve—AUC) of GH, fT and IGF-1 and gains in LBM or leg press strength. Significant correlations were found for cortisol, usually assumed to be a hormone indicative of catabolic drive, AUC with change in LBM (r = 0.29, P < 0.05) and type II fibre CSA (r = 0.35, P < 0.01) as well as GH AUC and gain in fibre area (type I: r = 0.36, P = 0.006; type II: r = 0.28, P = 0.04, but not lean mass). No correlations with strength were observed. We report that the acute exercise-induced systemic hormonal responses of cortisol and GH are weakly correlated with resistance training-induced changes in fibre CSA and LBM (cortisol only), but not with changes in strength.
Whatever causes increased strength and muscle growth, it seems that it is not down to changes in the hormones relating from resistance training.
In the first study, researchers examined the responses of both male and female participants to intense leg exercise. Despite a 45-fold difference in testosterone increase, men and women were able to make new muscle protein at exactly the same rate.
"Since new muscle proteins eventually add up to muscle growth, this is an important finding," says West.
"While testosterone is definitely anabolic and promotes muscle growth in men and women at high doses, such as those used during steroid abuse, our findings show that naturally occurring levels of testosterone do not influence the rate of muscle protein synthesis."
In the second study, researchers analyzed the post-exercise hormonal responses of 56 young men, aged 18 to 30, who trained five days a week for 12 weeks in total.
The men experienced gains in muscle mass that ranged from virtually nothing to more than 12 pounds, yet their levels of testosterone and growth hormone after exercise showed no relationship to muscle growth or strength gain.
Surprisingly, the researchers noted that cortisol—considered to have the opposite effect of anabolic hormones because it reduces protein synthesis and breaks down tissue—was related to the gain in muscle mass.
"The idea that you can or should base entire exercise training programs on trying to manipulate testosterone or growth hormone levels is false," says Stuart Phillips, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology. "There is simply no evidence to support this concept." from Eureka
Now there is some fascinating stuff there.
Natural levels of testosterone - don't have an impact. Steroids will blow you up OK, but you can't blame you age (lowered testosterone levels) or your sex.
Natural levels - i.e. promoted by exercise - of GH and testosterone - were not related to either muscle growth or strength.
Cortisol - the scary stress hormone that we are supposed to minimise due to its catabolic effects - was associated with hypertrophy.
So what do we do with this?
As Philips says, theories that it is all down to the usual hormones - testosterone and GH - may be wrong but stress from training - cortisol promoting - may have a role. Training to produce stress...failure? HIT perhaps?
In all the discussions about how different diets may or may not promote insulin resistance, one thing that often gets missed out of the discussion is the role of the muscles. Empty the muscles of glycogen through hard exercise and they will get more insulin sensitive to suck up the sugar out of the blood. (Nigel has been trying to explain this but that is a different topic)
It is something that I talk about in Hillfit as a side benefit of strength training and an issue that Doug McGuff and John Little go into in Body by Science.
Anyway, interesting to see this study come through this morning - at least some association between strength levels and markers of insulin sensitivity
The aim of the study was to examine the association of muscular strength with markers of insulin resistance in European adolescents. The study comprised a total of 1,053 adolescents (499 males; 12.5–17.5 years) from ten European cities participating in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) Cross-Sectional Study. Muscular strength was measured by the handgrip strength and standing long jump tests. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured by the 20-m shuttle run test. Fasting insulin and glucose were measured and the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) indices were calculated. Weight, height, waist circumference and skinfold thickness were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. In males, the handgrip strength and standing long jump tests were negatively associated with fasting insulin and HOMA (all P < 0.05) after controlling for pubertal status, country and BMI or waist circumference. When skinfold thickness was included in the model, the association became non-significant. In females, the standing long jump test was negatively associated with fasting insulin and HOMA (all P < 0.001) after controlling for pubertal status, country and surrogate markers of total or central body fat (BMI, waist circumference or skinfold thickness). Findings were retained in males, but not in females after controlling for cardiorespiratory fitness. The findings of the present study suggest that preventive strategies should focus not only on decreasing fatness and increasing cardiorespiratory fitness but also on enhancing muscular strength.
resistance exercise and aerobic exercise together;
in sedentary middle-aged men. (I'm 44. Am I middle aged yet?)
The way that I read it is that doing both together is equivalent in effect - in most measures they were looking at, protein synthesis in the muscles mainly) to doing either resistance exercise or aerobic exercise.
Questions for discussion....
Why was the resistance exercise 8 sets of 8 reps? Why not something simpler?
The interview focuses on my book Hillfit:Strength and it was good to have a chance to explain more about the philosophy and the rationale behind the programme and the exercises that were chosen.
Anyway, please check out the interview and have a look round the rest of Slimkicker too - it looks like a fun community and useful approach to tracking your diet.
Why is it that some people see the world through weird cognitive bias filters? It makes discussion with them impossible, as what I write is remixed with weird filters into something completely different. They then argue against something completely different, not what I wrote. This is the classic Straw Man argument.
1) ""A" is..." is remixed into "I believe that "B", "C", "D",..."Z" do not exist".
2) ""A" is caused by "B"" is remixed into "A is only caused by "B"". This is similar to 1).
3) "As cells are emptied (of glycogen)..." is remixed into "Once cells are completely emptied (of glycogen)...". The "As" at the beginning of the sentence signifies an ongoing process. Next time, I'll write "As cells are depleted (of glycogen)..." EDIT: Rewritten using c/p'ed text.
4) The statement "eating too much and moving too little" is remixed into "Gluttony and Sloth". Gluttony and Sloth are conscious actions. Eating too much due to ravenous hunger and moving too little due to lethargy/sleepiness are unconscious actions. Anybody who thinks that I mean/insinuate the former rather than the latter is an idiot/insane.
Having remixed what I wrote into something completely different, I am then accused of intellectual dishonesty. Oy!
This one popped across my screen today. Stress is always an issue with all sorts of impacts on health. Interesting to see this study of its impact on the muscles and how they react to training:
PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to determine whether chronic mental stress moderates recovery of muscular function, perceived energy, fatigue and soreness in the first hour following a bout of strenuous resistance exercise. METHODS: 31 undergraduate resistance training students (age = 20.26 ± 1.34 y) completed the perceived stress scale (PSS) and Undergraduate Stress Questionnaire (USQ; a measure of life event stress) and completed fitness testing. Following 5 to 14 days of recovery, they performed an acute heavy-resistance exercise protocol (10-RM leg press test plus six sets: 80-100% of 10-RM). Maximal isometric force (MIF) was assessed prior to, following, and at 20, 40, and 60 min post-exercise. Participants also reported their levels of perceived energy, fatigue, and soreness. Recovery data was analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) growth curve analysis. RESULTS: Life event stress significantly moderated linear (p = .013) and squared (p = .05) recovery of MIF. This relationship held even when the model was adjusted for fitness, workload, and training experience. Likewise, perceived stress moderated linear recovery of MIF (p = .023). Neither USQ nor PSS significantly moderated changes in energy, fatigue, or soreness. CONCLUSION: Life event stress and perceived stress both moderated the recovery of muscular function, but not psychological responses, in the first hour post strenuous resistance exercise.
I think this may well have relevance to the work of Marcora that I've poined to before. so much of this stuff is mental. Perceptions are so important. When you feel stressed everything will feel harder and of course your performance will be impacted
Naturopathy teaches that physical and mental fitness is equated with a long and healthy life. Body exercises, one aspect of fitness helps prevent disease and strengthen the self-healing powers of the body perfectly. Proven to be people who are actively deal with the issue of fitness and healthy living, statistically speaking, longer.
Regular physical activity, combined with a nutrient-and fiber-rich diets are based on fitness and a healthy immune system. The risk of developing lifestyle diseases like heart attacks and obesity can be reduced by a targeted workout, increase concentration and learning through a healthy diet combined with exercise.
What is the relationship between fitness and health?
Not everyone can get excited about hiking, knee and sit-ups in the morning at the open window and cereals and raw vegetables. But that a healthy lifestyle with a rhythm of activity, relaxation and a healthy mind and body contributes is undisputed.
The testimony of the Father Jahn turn that into a healthy body a healthy mind is still relevant today. Sports and exercise, even 20 minutes a day, the immune cells up to speed. Every person wants to do every day without pain his day's work. To do this you need to muscles and joints, possibly, his entire body, can be used daily. Because can rust as unused machines, accumulate in human metabolism to inactive slag to be removed only by motion. So this may actually leave the body, regular sports-fitness or yoga exercises are necessary. This can, depending on personal preferences, are at home, performed in a club with friends or in the gym. At home, the practitioner is left unattended in the club or with friends, he has training partners, but must adhere to certain times. The training in the gym can be customized.
Ensure the success and the resulting wrong actions make you sick and destructive stress prevents the person can enjoy good health. For this reason, a call is counseling or psychotherapy as well yoga into a comprehensive health program.
Which sports are most healthy?
In fitness training, there are fads and trends. Basically, the increase of health-conscious to his fitness, will choose a sport they like. These points can be two to three times a week, for half an hour to exercise alone in the club or at a fitness center. To increase the body's defenses are swimming, cycling, brisk walking, running, dancing, yoga, particularly well suited.
Swimming is a sport that is first of all like to exercise in the summer. It makes for a use as many muscles. The movement in the water makes a lot of fun. Cycling is the fitness enthusiasts throughout the year. The route is selected depending on your mood and driven. Brisk walking is preferred by people who have previously operated rare sports or suffer from physical problems. They usually choose short distances depend on the daytime functioning. Regular walking, even over long distances is something for people who want his head to run freely. You only start times and realize after a while they will not want more time with himself. Who wants to maintain togetherness in his sport with a partner to dance well advised. The joint movement not only strengthens the connective tissue but also the relationship.
People seeking a holistic fitness method, like yoga. It includes mental and physical exercises, combined with a healthy diet. Of course, a combination of various sports is possible.
What are your risks and benefits?
In principle, anyone who has never run the sport, start with an aerobic exercise. After 45 years it is reasonable to be carried out before training a health check. After a thorough examination, the doctor may also in heart and vascular patients give training recommendations. In the zeal to quickly get fit again, many people tend to overwhelm her body. As long as the practitioner can not breathe without exaggeration a conversation, it is not overloaded.
The fun factor is increased over time, the good mood rises. Man is more balanced.
Who takes fewer calories each day than it consumes decreases inevitably. Eating less or lower-calorie diet, but only the basal metabolic rate. This means that the body adapts to the times of privation, but it will also build muscle. Sports will ensure that the trainee burns calories and building of muscles. The cravings will soon after a dietetic treatment brings back the pounds on the hips as kept in check. When running sports with friends, in clubs and gyms is that he sells boredom that often leads to an immoderate eating. Many overweight people are missing the motivation to practice sports. You remember many of the gymnastics squads in school, the teasing classmates. This can be through sports with like-minded people or small workouts with familiar people prevent, for example, in the seclusion of the forest.
Anyone who appreciates even pay attention to his fitness, takes his meals in good company, indulges in the evening to relax, be inspired to learn, interested in others and pushes his decisions to better fitness is not long on the bench.
Objective: There are limited number of documents showing the relations between cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. This study aimed to determine the effects of two different quadriceps strengthening exercise approaches on cardiovascular fitness in healthy female subjects.
Methods: Forty female university students participated in this study on a voluntary basis. The participants were randomly assigned to do either isokinetic exercise (IE) or progressive resistive exercise (PRE) in two different groups. Both training schemes were performed three times a week for a period of two weeks. The subjects were given a maximum symptom limited exercise test on a treadmill before and after (each) training period.
Results: Total exercise duration increased and Borg scale level decreased significantly after training in the two groups (p < 0.05). Maximal systolic blood pressure, recovery heart rate, and recovery diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly in the IE Group (p < 0.05). Resting and recovery systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in the PRE Group (p < 0.05). Compared to PRE group, improvement for Borg Scale level, recovery heart rate and recovery diastolic blood pressure were more obvious in IE Group (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that both quadriceps strengthening methods have displayed improvements in cardiovascular fitness. Further research with larger sample groups may need to be carried out.
Objective: To determine whether unobtrusive long-term in-home assessment of walking speed and its variability can distinguish those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from those with intact cognition.
Methods: Walking speed was assessed using passive infrared sensors fixed in series on the ceiling of the homes of elderly individuals participating in the Intelligent Systems for Assessing Aging Change (ISAAC) cohort study. Latent trajectory models were used to analyze weekly mean speed and walking speed variability (coefficient of variation [COV]).
Results: ISAAC participants living alone included 54 participants with intact cognition, 31 participants with nonamnestic MCI (naMCI), and 8 participants with amnestic MCI at baseline, with a mean follow-up of 2.6 ± 1.0 years. Trajectory models identified 3 distinct trajectories (fast, moderate, and slow) of mean weekly walking speed. Participants with naMCI were more likely to be in the slow speed group than in the fast (p = 0.01) or moderate (p = 0.04) speed groups. For COV, 4 distinct trajectories were identified: group 1, the highest baseline and increasing COV followed by a sharply declining COV; groups 2 and 3, relatively stable COV; and group 4, the lowest baseline and decreasing COV. Participants with naMCI were more likely to be members of either highest or lowest baseline COV groups (groups 1 or 4), possibly representing the trajectory of walking speed variability for early- and late-stage MCI, respectively.
Conclusion: Walking speed and its daily variability may be an early marker of the development of MCI. These and other real-time measures of function may offer novel ways of detecting transition phases leading to dementia.
I was re-reading Hillfit last night. It is hard to come back to something that you wrote a few months before - I keep thinking of ways it could be improved or things that could be expressed better. I am going to revise it over the next few weeks and maybe also send all those that have bought it a few free bonus chapters and FAQs, but one area in particular that I thought was not expressed well was the idea of the sequential recruitment of muscle fibres / motor units and how the "size principle" leads to the way in which I recommend that you train.
Imagine that you find that your car battery is flat. You need to push start the car. Luckily your friends are there to help. They are a strange group though - all athletic but with different skills, different aptitudes. There are lots of them too; whole families of them in fact.
The SLOW clan are there: a large family, numerous lean and stringy fellas; not particularly powerful but in sports at school they had the reputation of being able to keep going for a long time before getting exhausted; and when they did get tired, they soon recovered. They were the family that dominated cross country running, and the 5000m on the track. There are lots of them too...it is a big family.
The INTERMEDIATE brothers are around as well: there are fewer of them than the SLOW clan, but they are more powerful. More thickset, athletic guys. They excel at soccer, sprinting, and played on the wings in the rugby team. They don't last as long as the SLOW guys and they take longer to get back on their feet when they do get exhausted but they have a fair bit more power.
....and then there were the FAST twins : only the two of them.....but they are a huge pair, muscles hanging off them: solid, strong and powerful. They are strongmen - competing in powerlifting - but have no stamina. At school they were the props in rubgy. Walking round the pitch going from big effort to big effort. After their big exertions they take a long time to recover...but they are certainly powerful.
Start to push that car.
You jump in the car, ready to turn the key and get the engine going. Strangely you have parked at the bottom of a hill. You need some help. First on the scene are the SLOW brothers. There are loads of them and they crowd around the car to start pushing.
Gradually the car begins to inch out of its space and move, but it is hard work pushing up that hill. The SLOW clan have been working hard but they have their limits and one by one they get exhausted, dropping away as the others keep pushing.
Sequential Recruitment......
You are still not going fast enough to start the car though, so you shout out to the passing INTERMEDIATE brothers who jump in and join in with the pushing. But it is a tough hill and while you are moving more quickly it is still not fast enough. Now the INTERMEDIATE brothers are getting tired and they too drop out.
You still need that push though - you are not going fast enough yet - so as INTERMEDIATEs drop out finally you call over the FAST twins, who just happened to be stood near by.
They bring their bulk and power; while the crowds of SLOW and INTERMEDIATE have dropped away, the FAST PAIR keep pushing. Not for long though - they have pushed hard but do not last and are soon spent. It is OK though. At last you have enough speed and you manage to turn the engine.
In your mirror your survey a trail of bodies up the road: SLOW, INTERMEDIATE and FAST are all exhausted...and as athletes they are all grateful for the training effect that pushing your car will have had. They will ALL get fitter because of this effort
Recovery
Most of the SLOW guys are just about recovered now and look like they could do the same all over again. The INTERMEDIATE brothers are starting to get back to normal too and look almost ready to go. The FAST twins though are puffing away at the kerb - it will take some time before they are ready to go again.
But if it was a smaller car?
What if it was a smaller car, like your sister's mini? Could you have exhausted all of that crowd? Well the next day you find out. There was a frost, damp in the distributor and her mini will not start. Luckily the same bunch is around and again the SLOW clan crowd around the mini and start pushing.
The car is a lot lighter and the SLOW brothers keep pushing it along. Some of them tire and drop out, but the car is moving quite fast and they soon recover and join in the push again. The car keeps moving and gets faster. Not all the SLOW brothers are pushing at the same time - there are enough of them to keep pushing even while some of them drop out for a breather, recover and then join in again.
Soon the mini starts and you are off. SLOW were able to get her going, recycling the tired brothers into the push. She never needed to call on INTERMEDIATE, let alone the FAST twins. They do not get any work at all!
A heavier car?
It is a bad week for weather and the next day it is not your car, not the light mini or you sister, but a great big SUV that your neighbour has bought. Time for another push. Once more everyone gathers around the car. All of the SLOW clan pushes.....but nothing happens! The INTERMEDIATE brothers join in, all pushing in tandem. But once more there is no movement. It needs more power. The FAST twins come over. Finally with all pushing in tandem the car starts to move; but the FAST pair soon get tired. As soon as they drop out of the push the car stops....the SLOW and INTERMEDIATE were still pushing, not tired, but not strong enough to work to exhaustion.
So lets apply that to exercise!
In an exercise your aim is to exhaust all of the motor units: SLOW, INTERMEDIATE and FAST. As John Little says:
Retaining in our mind’s eye the purpose of exercise is to recruit and stimulate as many muscle fibers (in all categories – slow twitch, intermediate twitch and fast twitch) as possible, and that for this to occur, a muscle or group of muscles must be given a load sufficient (but not excessive) enough to initiate a sequential recruitment of fibers, and also given a time frame that permits such fibers to be recruited, the question becomes:
I'll always be skinny this isn't bad
The aim is to progress through all 3 motor unit types quickly enough to recruit them all.....but not so quickly that only the fast twitch fibres get the bulk of the stimulation......and not so slowly that the slow / intermediate twitch units can recover and recycle back into the effort, so the fast ones are never called on.
So you do not want steady state easy cardio - that only hits the slow twitch units. Even when some get tired they recover and come back into play and you never tap into the intermediate or fast units.
And you do not want a really heavy weight where you fail immediately or after one or two reps. Then you need to call on all of the units - slow, intermediate and fast - to fire in tandem to shift it and as soon as the fast units are exhausted you are finished without really working the others.
You need the "goldilocks" load - enough to involve the slow units .... and then as they drop out to call in the intermediate ones and then as they fall off the fast ones come in until they are exhausted.
For example the Wall Sit!
Of course you do not actually have to move. It is the contraction that it important....even if that is a static contraction. Lets get back to the wall sit, one of the key moves in HillfitI say to hold it for between 60 and 90 seconds.
You get into position and get tight. Your quads are contracting hard to hold you there. Initially your slow twitch motor units are firing. Gradually they run ou of fuel and cannot fire anymore. They can't rest and recover though because you need to keep in that position and to do that you need more units to fire.
So the intermediate units start to work. Finally they all drop out too - there was not as many of them and they tire faster.
Ultimately you need the fast twitch fibres to get to work. There are not many of them and they are powerful but they tire fast. When they are done, you fall to the floor - all of the motor units are exhausted, milked of glycogen, empty of fuel. All sorts of signals are given metabolically and mechanically to get you growing, so that you are prepared for such an exertion in the future - your body does not like to be incapacitated and vulnerable like that so it will get stronger to protect itself.
That took maybe 90 seconds....but you worked all the units. Next time you might need to hold some dumbbells and you might fail in 60 seconds. If you fail in less than that you've gone too heavy - it is like pushing the SUV, the fast twitch units are needed from the start and soon drop out.
Does that make sense?
Let me know in the comments. I am just trying to explain a key idea in a way that people will understand.
Which of the three things in the title is the most important?
I run a health blog, so you don't need to be a rocket scientist to guess my opinion. Health. As I mentioned in "The Diet Debacle" debacle, you are what you eat i.e. if you eat/drink rubbish, you get a rubbish body. Therefore, what people eat/drink is important in order to maximise their health.
Should "food" manufacturers (whose prime objective is to maximise their profits) have the right to unduly influence people's food choices (which results in them experiencing deteriorating health) by using cunning marketing methods? I say "No".
Should "food" manufacturers have the right to unduly influence politicians into subsidising the raw ingredients of their "food" by bribery lobbying? I say "No".
It's been argued that "food" manufacturers should have the right to free speech. I disagree, as the motives of a "food" manufacturer are completely different from the motives of an individual.
I'm not arguing for a ban on the marketing of non-food items or stopping government subsidies for non-food items. Am I really asking so much?
The above are moot points, as "food" manufacturers and governments are very powerful, and nobody wants to give up power. Therefore, nothing much will change unless you people out there can persuade other people to do what you are doing by leading by example, and so on. If enough people stop buying "food" (and I'm using quotes deliberately, as a lot of "food" isn't fit for pig-swill, let alone human consumption) and start buying, cooking & eating real food, some "food" manufacturers might experience such a large drop in profits that they go out of business.
1) The comment: I'm just about to leave the following comment on Peter (Hyperlipid)'s blog post Insulin and the Rewards of overfeeding. I thought that it was so good at summing-up, I'll post it here first!
"All,
Insulin increases the amount of glucose & FFAs entering fat cells, muscle cells & the liver.
Insulin decreases the amount of glycerol & FFAs exiting fat cells & the amount of glucose exiting the liver.
Hyperinsulinaemia (which can produce sedation) results when one or more of the following tissues loses insulin sensitivity:- fat cells, muscle cells & the liver.
So, why do people keep saying that hyperinsulinaemia locks nutrients away in fat cells only, thus robbing other cells of nutrients, thus causing lethargy?
The relative insulin sensitivity of tissues determines the relative partitioning of nutrients into those tissues.
When tissues lose sensitivity to insulin, blood glucose control becomes impaired. This results in a roller-coaster blood glucose level after eating high-glycaemic carbohydrates. A rapidly-falling blood glucose level can cause ravenous hunger. I have experienced this during medically-monitored tests (OGTTs & an insulin shock test).
Low-carb/ketogenic diets don't result in a roller-coaster blood glucose level and therefore don't cause ravenous hunger. Simples!
Over-eating due to ravenous hunger is NOT gluttony, just as under-moving due to sedation is NOT sloth.
EDIT: This didn't go in my comment but should have:- "Low-carb/ketogenic diets result in the avoidance of moreish & calorific foods such as sweets, chocolate, cake, biscuits, pizza, Pringles etc. A single bite of such foods has a negligible effect on blood glucose & insulin levels, but encourages another bite and another and another ad nauseam due to Food Reward.
2) The simile: I use similes. I used the simile "As happy as a pig in shit" in a comment somewhere on Woos blog. Now, you may (or may not) have noticed that my user-name is Nigeepoo. We Brits are obsessed by two things - The weather and our bowel movements. I find things to do with poo and farting amusing (schoolboy humour, I know!). I used the simile "As happy as a pig in shit" because it is amusing to me.
"Re: the comment...Sorry, not convinced. You are basically refusing to admit your choice of words implied moral judgement. The phrase "happier than a pig in shit" is always applied to examples of people being content in immorality/bad behavior particularly gluttony and sloth... unless it is used ironically. Only an autistic or a non-english speaker would believe this crap."
Woo, you are as mad as a March hare. IMO of course, like everything I write. Duh!
I commented on that last post explaining why I chose the Wall Sit as a key exercise in Hillfit Here is what I said:
I chose the Wall Sit / Air Bench / Wall Sit for Hillfit for a number of reasons.
First of all it is simple to learn. Too many trainers or internet personalities present exercises that may be fine but are actually complex motor skills. Kettlebell snatches and swings for example may or may not be good exercises but they are not easy to learn without decent coaching and a lot of practice. The Wall sit is different – it is a very simple move. Once in position your task is simple – hold that position until you can’t hold it anymore, sequentially recruiting the muscle fibres.
Secondly it is a congruent exercise (in terms of Bill DeSimone’s work). At the 90 degree knee position you are at maximum moment arm for the quads, while this is also the position of maximum muscle torque – the hardest position in terms of leverage is met with the muscle being at its strongest.
Thirdly it removes much risk. Whatever the squat defenders say you are in a risky position moving with a bar on your back. I’ve seen and experienced too many slips and accidents. I’ve seen people squat without collars only to see plates slide off the bar so it flips off and cracks them in the back of the head. I’ve seen people get stuck at the bottom. In terms of duty of care I cannot recommend this move to the average person that I aimed the book at. With the Wall Sit there can be zero added load or if you do add load you can do it safely – hold dumbbells at your side or in a goblet position.
In terms of performance I either just do the timed hold, adding weight if I go over 90 seconds, or do that and immediately go into the top half of a free /air squat, the easy portion where the moment arm is less and you can keep going. I also sometimes do them Max Pyramid style: 20seconds with knees at about 60 degrees, 20 seconds with knees at 90 degrees, then 90 degrees with added weight for 20s, add weight until you can’t hold for 20 then back down, usually backing to zero load and then the 60 degrees.
Wall sits were the basic quad exercise Bill DeSimone recommended in his first book, Moment Arm Exercise which was what got me thinking of them as the basic move.
For me for most people a wall sit, plus a plank (pushup position) would be the start of all training. I also add some timed static contractions now, but that is another story.
All that research seemed to focus on endurance exercise but it was interesting to see Alex point to new research that indicates that there are similar ideas at play with respect to lifting weights.
What I thought was neat about the study was the distinction between "peripheral" and "central" fatigue: the former is the reduced ability of your muscle itself to contract, and the latter is a reduction in the signal from your brain to your muscle demanding contraction. If you pick up a heavy (above critical torque) dumbbell and lift it until you can't anymore, the limiting factor appears to be peripheral fatigue. Your muscles are simply no longer capable of contracting powerfully enough to lift the weight. In contrast, if you lift a lighter (below critical torque) dumbbell to failure, your muscles themselves fatigue to a much lesser extent, suggesting that fatigue somewhere in your brain or central nervous system is the problem.
