I think I have previously pointed to the regular  review of Strength and Conditioning Research studies that is put together each month by Chris Beardsley and Bret Contreras.  Each issue does an overview of scores of studies explaining them in plain language and then pulling out the key points.  It is a great resource if you want to keep on top of the current thinking in academic exercise science and think about how it applies to your own training.

The pair of them have just brought out a new piece of work that they sent me to have a sneak preview.  This one is really useful - it is aimed at getting you up to speed not on the latest research but on the current accepted state of knowledge in fitness, exercise and strength science.  Why does a muscle contract?  How does it grow?  What do we know about fatigue, resistance training, bone strength.


Strength and Conditioning Research: Background - takes the same approach as the monthly review, but focusses on Review Papers,  those papers that scientists write to sum up the current position in their area.  It is a really good idea.  

If you read this you would have a better understanding of the key science behind exercise than 99% of personal trainers, therapists and medics out there.  I'd say it is the equivalent of the literature review for a graduate project.  Highly recommended.

You can read more here:

Strength and Conditioning Research: Background

Background is a collection of over fifty reviews of the most comprehensive review articles and meta-analyses of the fundamental concepts underlying exercise science.
It covers all of the important concepts in muscular, neuromuscular, bone, tendon and cardiovascular physiology as well as their adaptations training.  It also has sections on energy systems, fatigue and biomechanics.

I do not have any affiliate relationship with this product by the way, I just think it is good.

In the spotlight: protein diet

Protein Diet

To determine the effect of dietary protein to understand, we need to understand how the energy in our body is supplied. Through our daily diet we take carbohydrates, fats and proteins (proteins) in our body. These are the carbohydrates and fats that provide the energy that our bodies need to function. The proteins do provide care for the building, maintenance and repair of tissues in the body.

Burning carbohydrates versus fats?

In "normal" circumstances, the body will first burn carbohydrates to meet energy needs. One can consider carbohydrates as the "current account" which the normal daily energy requirements are met. It is only when these current account can not meet the energy that our bodies change channels to the burning of fats that we can consider as our "savings account" (This will be the only time that we want to plunder our savings account).


How does a protein diet?

A protein diet ensures that there are no crabs in our body ** be recorded on a continuous basis so that our body will burn fat to meet its energy needs.

Difference with a classical diet.

In the classic diet we eat less. The ratio of carbohydrates, fats and proteins remains the same, the amount we record's just less. The protein diet is an imbalance created in which more proteins (proteins) are recognized and less fat and crabs. The core idea of ​​a protein diet is: To lose one should NOT balanced diet!

Why proteins? Protein is an important nutrient, required for the construction, maintenance and repair of tissues in the body. Very typical of a classic diet is the loss of muscle mass due to a lack of protein and a lower metabolism: the body gets less fuel and the combustion energy put on the back burner.

At a protein diet, there is a typical reaction of the body that are "ketose" is mentioned. After 2 or 3 days the body by a shortage of carbohydrates about to burn fat, which ketose are released that provide energy (you read that right - the body does not experience hunger: in contrast to the classical diet).

The Congruent Chin Up

The inimitable Bill DeSimone teaches proper form



Bill knows his stuff and can explain it so well.

Learn more at his Facebook Page 

Is Race Walking a sport....

A nice analysis....

Too much exercise may not be a good thing for fat loss...

Now this is interesting and indeed reflects what many people have found.  The whole study is available by the way.

Body fat loss and compensatory mechanisms in response to different doses of aerobic exercise—a randomized controlled trial in overweight sedentary males

In conclusion, a similar body fat loss was obtained regardless of exercise dose. A moderate dose of exercise induced a markedly greater than expected negative energy balance, while a higher dose induced a small but quantifiable degree of compensation.

Although well recognized as an important means for weight loss maintenance (9), the role of habitual endurance training in weight loss is scrutinized, and it has been suggested that exercise leads to compensatory responses. In the current study, we show that despite that one group undertook twice the amount of endurance training, the reduction in body weight and, more importantly, in body fat was the same as the weight loss and was equal among the two groups (a healthy weight loss). Surprisingly, the reduction with the moderate-dose exercise was far greater than what could be explained by the increased energy expenditure from the training itself (no compensation) 

So the idea is that  there are some sort of compensatory mechanisms that are initiated in response to excessive exercise.  The body takes it as a signal to hold onto rather than burn body fat....Moderate exercise is better though and doesn't induce some reactions.

There is a very good analysis and commentary of this study over at Greatist :

News: Exercising Less May Help Us Lose More Weight

adequate sleep to fight obesity

This one keeps coming up.  I think if I had one health recommendation it would be to get more decent sleep.  Of course this is one thing that I do not do myself even though I know how important it is.

Adequate Sleep Helps Weight Loss

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Adequate sleep is an important part of a weight loss plan and should be added to the recommended mix of diet and exercise, states a commentary in CMAJ 

"The solution [to weight loss] is not as simple as 'eat less, move more, sleep more,'" write Drs. Jean-Phillippe Chaput, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario and Angelo Tremblay, Laval University, Québec, Quebec. "However, an accumulating body of evidence suggests that sleeping habits should not be overlooked when prescribing a weight-reduction program to a patient with obesity. Sleep should be included as part of the lifestyle package that traditionally has focused on diet and physical activity."

Onions are good...raw

Here is a good one.  It seems that onions are very, very healthy

An important pharmacological aspect of onion is the ability to inhibit platelet aggregation.

However, this property is destroyed by steaming....in fact cooking might actually render the onion unhealthy!

The study is available in full at

Steam-cooking rapidly destroys and reverses onion-induced antiplatelet activity

ConclusionsIn the present study, antiplatelet activity induced by onion extract was destroyed between 3 and 6 min of steaming. At 10 min of steaming, cooked onions stimulated platelet activity, and cooked extracts had the potential to reverse the inhibitory effect on blood platelets by 25%.Thus, possible negative health implications of eating onions in the cooked form were revealed. Because OIAA was lost and reversed with steam-cooking, consumers may want to minimize onion cooking time, choose onions with high pungency for cooking practices, and/or consume raw onions on a regular basis in order to preserve OIAA.

Off Line

If you follow my other blog you might realise that I've been on holiday for the last 2 weeks, just getting back to work today.   It was great, walking in Austria and then a 46 mile walk over 2 days on the West Highland Way.

Most of that time I was off line.  In Austria there was WiFi didn't really use it and last week I had got ou of the habit of checking blogs and feeds for all the drama.

It was a nice rest actually and made me realise how unhealthily focussed I can get about my on-line activities.  It is refreshing to spend some good time outdoors and away from the internets.  I need to fo it more.

Bill De Simone on forearms

We know that Bill is fantastic.  His books on exercise are some of the most rational and straightforward texts on form and biomechanics out there.  If you do not already have it please check out his book  Congruent Exercise



I interviewed Bill here.

Keep that muscle as you get older

I saw this in my Dad and in the other people in hospital with him...it is so important to keep old people strong and well fed.   Matt Stone makes some great points - as usual.

Sarcopenia

The outside intervenes

Enjoying some proper time outside is stil keeping me form the blog I am afraid, although that is how it should be. Tuesday and Wednesday I walked 46 miles of the West Highland Way, 26 miles the first day and 20 the next.  I enjoyed it - it was good simply to journey on foot, to see landmarks go from distast to close to something I walked past.  I was putting in pretty consistent 15 minute miles for most of it although on the more technical sections things slowed down.

My fitness was pretty good too.  I did something similar four years ago and felt a lot worse at the ned.  This time while tired my main observation was how hungry I was!

I'm back

The blog has been quiet while I've been on holiday for a week - walking in the Zillertal Alps in Austria. It was stunning scenery.  I totally forgot about dieting though and just ate and drank whatever (well I stayed gluten free).  I've come back 7lb heavier, but that will soon shift.

Looking down into the Italian South Tyrol

The dissociated diet

Eat everything but at the same time

The dissociated diet is a method of eating but not all at the same time: each food consumed in isolation does not grow even if absorbed in large quantities.

Each day is dedicated to one type of food: meat or fish or eggs or dairy or vegetables or fruits. And you will eat the food at every meal of the day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and nothing else!

Failure to eat only one food on a meal leads to a faster satiety, so we monge less and lose weight.

Of course, the dissociated diet should be practiced over a short period to avoid deficiencies.

Methods Montignac, Antoine and Shelton are based on dissociated diet.

Example dissociated diet menu:

• Monday : exclusive consumption of fish

• Tuesday : exclusive consumption of fruits

• Wednesday : exclusive consumption of dairy

• Thursday : exclusive consumption of vegetables

• Friday : exclusive consumption of meat

• Saturday : exclusive consumption of cheese

• Sunday : exclusive consumption of eggs

Practice your strikes

More from Marcus

Paleo is mainstream

You can tell that Paleo is getting mainstream when they start creating infographics about it!


Presented By: MedicalBillingAndCoding.org

Weak Glutes give you sore knees?

Perhaps:

Gluteal muscle activity and patellofemoral pain syndrome: a systematic review

KRAV MAGA TECHNIQUES - BARRIER REMOVAL AND STRIKING AT CLOSE QUARTERS

I've not been to Edinburgh Krav Maga training for over a year now - work and life got in the way and I   just got out of the habit.  Marcus who is the Chief Instructor and the gym has been posting some goods videos of various techniques.  Worth checking out if you are interested in self defence

Diet / Training Update

5 September  - a little smoother

A couple of weeks ago I posted a report on how I'd cut a bit of bodyfat, under guidance of Andy from RippedBody.  After that post I took it easy for a couple of weeks on Andy's advice taking a diet break to ease up both psychologically and physically.  For a couple of weeks I stopped counting macros and just ate to appetite.

After those weeks I was actually eager to get back into the routine of dieting and for the last two weeks I've been back at it.  I've a couple of weeks off work coming up when the diet will slip again, but I am comfortable with this approach at the moment and think I can take off a little more fat while building a bit of muscle.

In terms of training I am still on a once a week full body routine of mostly bodyweight moves done in a high intensity style, with a  walk/run in the hills at the weekends.

I am pretty happy with the set up at the moment - it is simple and no great effort.  Still I've been told I am looking too skinny.  You can't win.

50 Workouts from Fred Fornicola and Matt Brzycki

A while ago now I interviewed Fed Fornicola.  Amid what often becomes impenetrably dense arguments in the HIT training field, Fred is a voice of simplicity and strength.  Things do not have to be as complex as we often make them as we geek out about training (e.g see this thread over on the Body By Science blog - even I join in!).  Fred keeps things simple - train hard, train safe, recover and go again.

Fred and his co-author the expert trainer Matt Brzycki have just published a new ebook - 

50 Workouts for Strength and Fitness: Safe, Efficient and Effective Training with Free Weights  (Also available from Amazon for kindle.)

The book doesn't go into the long descriptions of exercises that often fill up training books.  It assumes that you know the exercises or that you can find out how to do them (This is the age of google and YouTube!   There are some pretty decent sites ou there now that show how to perform most moves).  Rather this book offers information on training techniques and enough routines to keep you going for years, whether your goal is conditioning or muscle (it is all the same in the end).

Recommended if you are looking for some inspiration and new ideas.  Sometimes rather than working out your own routine it is nice to relax with something that has been planned out for you.  Pick some of the ideas in here and stick to them for a few weeks.

Here is what Fred says about the book:

The book covers a number of total-body and split-body workouts along with specialized routines and the ever challenging “3 by 3″ workouts of which we have quite a few.

The workouts in this book are designed to be done with free weights.  For these purposes, free weights include barbells, dumbbells and bodyweight.  Some of the workouts will specify a particular type of free weight.  However, because you might not have access to a specific type of free weight, most of the workouts will simply note the names of the exercises.  You can choose what to use based on availability, convenience, preference and safety.

Obsession

Marc has written a superb post here - Obsession: Why it is a dirty word.    He asks some important questions and points out some startling inconsistencies in the way in which the world views different activities.   Those of us who train and pay attention to our diet are seen as obsessed in a negative way, while those who drink too much or live life to watch tv are seen as normal and acceptable.

It might not be normal to lift heavy on a near daily basis and to try and control my weight using different dietary interventions but I find it empowering to have the ability to change my body composition and I love lifting.
If I was to be a "normal" and not know how to get leaner, or not have a hobby to obsesses over and get better at I think I would be a much less fulfilled human being.  I don't see how working a 9 to 5 job, eating 3 square meals and watching TV as my hobby would be a better alternative.
Sure people might question what you do and ask why you do it.  To those who genuinely want to know try your best to humour them you might be pleasantly surprised and maybe even make a new friend or gym buddy

The Sky Ride

This event in Edinburgh next week looks like it would be fun to take part in.  I've another commitment that day unfortunately but if you are available, check it out.

Banana Bread.....

I tried some gluten free baking today!  How about this!

It is a buried banana in a banana loaf.  Found it here and can't wait to eat it!  Eggs, oats, banana, coconut, sweet potato and whey protein.

Strength and Conditioning Research

I just wanted to point you to a superb resource that I get each month - Strength and Conditioning Research.  This research review is put together by Chris Beardsley and Bret Contreras and provides an easy to understand summary of a huge range of research published in the previous month on Strength and Conditioning.  It is similar to Alan Aragon's Research Review, but has a much wider scope.


You can get a flavour of the publication by checking out the blog, for example this useful analysis of a recent study on isometrics: Comparing isometric training at a range of angles with dynamic training

This month I also got a pleasant surprise when the monthly review arrived in a variety of formats including mobi, so I have been able to get it on my Kindle!  Excellent.

Anyway if you have any interest in strength and conditioning training and research I would highly recommend this monthly review.  Check out the free extract

I don't make any commission on this recommendation by the way, I just think this is a really good product.