Run for Your Life! At a comfortable pace, and not too far

a good video, recommended by Bill

Back to the body language

In the light of that TED talk I pointed to the other day, I thought that this was an interesting report:

Body Language, Not Facial Expressions, Broadcasts What's Happening to Us

If you think that you can judge by examining someone's facial expressions if he has just hit the jackpot in the lottery or lost everything in the stock market -- think again. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at New York University and Princeton University have discovered that -- despite what leading theoretical models and conventional wisdom might indicate -- it just doesn't work that way.  Rather, they found that body language provides a better cue in trying to judge whether an observed subject has undergone strong positive or negative experiences.

The face is not as impressive as the whole body.... it is the gross impression that is important.  We judge not just on first impressions, but on the BIG PICTURE.  It is like in self defence where we are taught to use gross motor skills that will not be eroded as much by adrenaline in a stressful situation.  Similarly it is the overall impression of a person that hits us deep down - how the posture looks, not the facial expression

When you are fatigued your balance will suffer....

Interesting but perhaps obvious.  When your muscles are fatigued your balance will be poorer.

Effects of exercise-induced fatigue on postural balance: a comparison of treadmill versus cycle fatiguing protocols

This is something important I believe in terms of injury prevention, particularly in walking.  When we are stronger, fitter and walking more efficiently (all covered in Hillfit) walking will be less fatiguing and  so balance will be impacted less.  You will be a more resilient walker, less likely to stumble, less likely to fall and get injured.

moobs

Man boobs.  A strange topic, but I have to agree with this piece on the BBC that there seem to be more and more men about sporting breasts.

Increase in male breast reduction surgery

The piece makes a case that it is not about obesity but about a variety of medical conditions that promote the growth of breast tissue.  Maybe.  However, there are a lot of guys who are developing fat chests rather than breast tissue  or what we used to call bitch tits.

When I was fatter I used to have a fat chest and as a teenager  I was made fun of in the changing room for having "tits".  It was fat though.  As I've leaned out over the years, I've lost them.  

Surgery is maybe too easy a way out.  Yes there are those with medical conditions that require surgery, but maybe others could do with simple fat loss?

Eat like a predator?

I'm not sure that I agree with this guy anymore....but the video is funny in a South Park kind of way



To be honest I am nowadays much more sceptical about the paleo world...but that is another story (ask Matt)

Body Language

Posture....reveals how you feel.....and controls how you feel!

strong one arm chins!

Some amazing strength on display here.

Acai Berry Juice and Weight Control

Acai Berry Juice

Is Acai berry juice to lose weight effectively? The acai berry seems to make appearances everywhere. In talk shows, news segments, newspaper and magazine articles, including on the Internet. It's really aa valuable fruit nowadays because of its nutrient content.

This fruit is full of antioxidants that the free radicals that cause damage to our cells fight - free radicals that cause aging and cancer. The acai berry has more antioxidants, blueberries, red wine and pomegranate. It also contains omega fats essentials, poly nutrients, protein and fiber.

The acai berry itself is not only making waves for these reasons. In fact, it is gaining so much popularity because people now say that the juice of this fruit's shape, to lose weight effectively. Is there any truth to this?



Well, I think it can be said that this fruit effective for losing unwanted weight, because it has the following advantages:

 It is rich in fiber, but it speeds up your metabolism, it reduces the appetite and reduces craving for sweet and carb filled foods. Thus, drinking acai berry juice the solution to your fat loss his problem.

One must be careful, however, to choose the right acai berry juice to lose weight effectively. You should not buy the ones that are full of sugar and syrup. . Make sure that the juice you buy in high concentration, and not merely a diluted form is It is difficult, the perfect juice, which is effective, but with hard work and trial and error, you will.

Do not hesitate to try a free trial of acai berry supplements online, so you know what you are. Getting into before you buy the whole thing.

Intermittent Fasting - weight loss and cardio-protection in obese women

Another study from Varady's group - they've done a fair bit of research on IF in the past.  Interesting how the approach is put together: not a compressed eating window, but a 1 day a week fast with the other days being 2 meal replacement shakes and a normal food but calorie controlled dinner.  I wonder how important the fast was in this.  (the full paper is available)

At least the researchers recognise this - they admit that they do not show whether it was the IF or the calorie restriction that caused the benefits:

This study is limited in that it did not tease apart the effect of IF and CR on body weight and  CHD risk. Thus, the independent contributions of the IF diet versus the CR diet on these various parameters, are not known. In order to answer these key questions, a future study should be performed that compares the effect of IF combined with CR, to that of IF alone, and CR alone.

Intermittent fasting combined with calorie restriction is effective for weight loss and cardio-protection in obese women

Creatine for endurance

Creatine has typically been promoted for its benefits for strength and power athletes.  Interesting to see this new study indicating that it may have benefits for endurance sports, through decreasing the production of lactate

Oral Creatine Supplementation Decreases Blood Lactate during Exhaustive, Incremental Cycling.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of creatine supplementation on blood lactate during incremental cycling exercise.

METHODS:

Thirteen male subjects (mean ± SD: 23 ± 2 years; 178.0 ± 8.1 cm; 86.3 ± 16.0 kg; 24 ± 9 % body fat) performed a maximal, incremental cycling test to exhaustion before (Pre) and after (Post) 6-days of creatine supplementation (4-doses per day of 5 g creatine + 15 g glucose). Blood lactate was measured at the end of each exercise stage during the protocol, and the lactate threshold was determined as the stage prior to achieving 4 mmol·L-1. Lactate concentrations during the incremental test were analyzed using a 2 (condition) x 6 (exercise stage) repeated measures ANOVA. Differences in power at lactate threshold, power at exhaustion, and total exercise time were determined by paired t-tests and are presented as means ± SD.

RESULTS:

Lactate concentrations were reduced during exercise following supplementation, demonstrating a significant condition effect (p = 0.041). There was a tendency for increased power at the lactate threshold (Pre: 128 ± 45 W; Post: 143 ± 26 W; p = 0.11). Total time to fatigue approached significant increases (Pre: 22.6 ± 3.2 min.; Post: 23.3 ± 3.3 min.; p = 0.056), as did maximal power output (Pre: 212.5 ± 32.5 W; Post: 220 ± 34.6 W; p = 0.082).

CONCLUSIONS:

Our findings demonstrate creatine supplementation decreases lactate during incremental cycling exercise and tends to raise lactate threshold. Therefore, creatine supplementation could potentially benefit endurance athletes.

Antioxidants

I have had things on here before warning that antioxidants supplements are not necessarily a good idea.  Seth Roberts points to an good piece that sums this up:

antioxidants, once believed to reduce aging by reducing oxidative damage, have turned out to have the opposite effect. By reducing a hormetic effect, they make things worse. 

Eating Tasty Foods to Lose Weight - How Acai Berry Fruits you in removing Body Fat Fast

Acai Berry

People are made to believe that acai berry is beneficial for health. Acai has become prominent. Already hundreds of years ago when people living in the South and Central America, the place where the acai palm thrives naturally won plenty The people there eat the fruit as a food energy.

Acai palm trees grow in the swarm lands in countries like Peru and Brazil. Its fruit, the berry is small and has a deep purple color and has a large seed, which uses 80% of the berries. It is known that it tasty, meaty and juicy.

If eaten consistently, it provides many health benefits. It is a food good for the body because of its antioxidant properties. In a relatively short time, acai is able to remove the toxins from the body catastrophic. The effective antioxidants, about two hours after the Acai berry is eaten.



With Acai berry as part of your daily diet can people begin to feel a lift in energy, more power, sound sleep, and mental alertness. Even during digestion, Acai can be of help.

The greatest feat that Acai has the man is his ability to lose body fat. This is because the body of the fecal and parasitic wastes are accumulated is cleaned. Some of the body fat is waste that is not converted into energy. Away with them, blood circulation is improved.

As the blood circulation is improved, the aging process is slowed. Skin appears healthier and smoother. Cholesterol regularized and the heart begins to grow stronger.

With the antioxidants naturally found in Acai berry, the body is given a strong defense against attack by bacteria that bring diseases. When the body with food, proper nutrition is supplied to ensure the overall health is widely promoted. By healthy, the weight will again become in the right scale.

Congruent Exercise for the Kindle

While I am recommending books, Bill Desimone's Congruent Exercise is now available for the Kindle.

I interviewed Bill here and wrote about Congruent Exercise here.

Highly recommended.

The Amazon Link is here 

or

here for the UK

Drew Baye: High Intensity: The Annotated, Uncensored Post Workout Delirium Induced Ramblings

Drew Baye has a new book out:  High Intensity: The Annotated, Uncensored Post Workout Delirium Induced Ramblings.  I have read it, enjoyed it and got a lot from it.  It is interesting to see how his ideas have developed over recent years and how they have changed so little - surely the mark that his basic position has been pretty sound.

High Intensity: The Annotated, Uncensored, Post Workout Delirium Induced Ramblings is a collection of post-workout essays I wrote in the late 1990s covering a variety of bodybuilding, fat loss, health and performance related topics, along with over thirty pages of annotations (169 pages total) which provide additional background information, current perspectives, and recommendations for exercise performance, dieting, workout design, and much more.
Ebook: $20 (instant download)

It is a good read - you will be entertained and also learn some important things about training safely and effectively

Getting seduced by the marketing...

I do not do deadlifts....I am happy with my exercise and how it supports my lifestyle and hobbies.....I have no real interest in deadlifting hundreds of pounds.......It was the deadlift that originally hurt my back 20 years ago......

Yet still I found myself severely tempted by Pavel and Andy Bolton's new book, Deadlift Dynamite....even the cheesey sales video had me drawn in.

I didn't buy it.  I am sure it is a good book, but I am trying to wean myself off the marketing, the products.  Automatically buying whatever promises a new secret.  There are no secrets.

stunning goal

1 finger pushups

Of course about half way through the video you realise that the guy is actually stood up against a wall.  The magic of turning your camera on its side.

Get moving

Go Kaleo posted this on Facebook and I thought it was worth sharing further

Physical inactivity as the culprit of metabolic inflexibility: evidence from bed-rest studies

The full text is at that link

Although it is no longer debatable that sedentary behaviors are an actual cause of many metabolic diseases, the physiology of physical inactivity has been poorly investigated for this purpose. Along with microgravity, the physiological adaptations to spaceflights require metabolic adaptations to physical inactivity, and that is exceedingly well-simulated during the ground-based microgravity bed-rest analogs. Bed rest thus represents a unique model to investigate the mechanisms by which physical inactivity leads to the development of current societal chronic diseases. For decades, however, clinicians and physiologists working in space research have worked separately without taking full awareness of potential strong mutual questioning. This review summarizes the data collected over the last 60 years on metabolic adaptations to bed rest in healthy subjects. Our aim is to provide evidence that supports the hypothesis that physical inactivity per se is one of the primary causes in the development of metabolic inflexibility. This evidence will focus on four main tenants of metabolic inflexiblity: 1) insulin resistance, 2) impaired lipid trafficking and hyperlipidemia, 3) a shift in substrate use toward glucose, and 4) a shift in muscle fiber type and ectopic fat storage. Altogether, this hypothesis places sedentary behaviors upstream on the list of factors involved in metabolic inflexibility, which is considered to be a primary impairment in several metabolic disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

It is another one that puts the focus on the dangers of being inactive....sitting around all day....at your desk, in front of the TV, in your car.

Get out and get moving

Stand up!

Dangers of too much water for some athletes

Just a quick link to an abstract I saw which draws attention to the potential dangers of drinking too much water during exercise.

An important warning given the usual admonition to drink lots!

Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia and Hydration Status in 161-km Ultramarathoners

Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia incidence can be high in 161-km ultramarathons in northern California. In this environment, EAH is more common with dehydration than overhydration and is more common in hotter ambient temperature conditions. Because weight loss >3% does not appear to have an adverse effect on performance, excessive sodium supplementation and aggressive fluid ingestion beyond the dictates of thirst are ill-advised

It reminds me of elements of this advice given to those preparing for the West Highland Way ultramarathon

Notes / slides are here

Remove reports! Losing weight is a mind game

Losing weight is a mind game

Basically weight loss is purely a mental thing. We ask ourselves, we can do it, too? Quick is more weight to our state of mind. Do not let it get that far. Many think that losing weight is a science in itself. I mean, this is how we think, what keeps us from change our current situation to want.

I made the mistake also. I tried the recommendations that were working with friends. The results were not satisfactory. The answer is basically very simple! Every body is ticking a little different and what works for a good friend, colleague or friend, must not work with me in this way.

Everyone needs to vote for his meals himself. How much may I on fat eat daily? How many carbs should I eat daily? How much protein should I eat daily?



Furthermore, the amounts of carbohydrates, fats and modify proteins by the movement and the work that we perform every day.

The methods of losing weight are basically very simple!

•  The carbohydrates must be reduced ...

• Candy and sweet drinks are into any form of diet ...

• movement must be. Movement keeps us fit and also promotes our health and ensures that our slack muscles restore themselves. Also, I'm building then in addition to excess calories from ...

• The daily portion sizes of the meals must always vote for themselves. The! What other food can, can be too much for me ...

• To himself and his weight loss success work and not only just in between but for the whole life. Remove or diets are no solutions with short-term success, but must be implemented for a lifetime and point. That's the hard part, that is the perseverance. For me to find the right rotation, which I can keep my weight under control, it must work hard every one of us. Only you can change that. If you want to change nothing, nothing will change. It remains as it is.

Standing room only

I haven't posted for a while - too busy with real life I suppose.

One thing that has been in my mind the last few days has been the idea of standing or at least not being sedentary.  One of my guilty pleasures is listening to the podcasts of Superhuman Radio.  Carl Lanore has some really interesting interviews, if you can get past the over the top advertising.  I actually like Lanore's style too - he makes me laugh and comes across as a nice guy.

Anyway, last Wednesday he interviewed Emma Wilmot:

SHR # 1080 :: Get Up! Stand Up!: Sitting For Long Periods Causes Death PLUS So What's The Big Deal About Grass Fed Whey  

The show can be downloaded from here as an mp3:

Dr. Wilmot's group has looked at research done on over 794,000 participants to determine that your lack of activity will lead to your early demise. This is an important interview. Even if you train hard once a day you may be negating the benefits by sitting at your desk for the rest of the day. Learn how easy it is to reverse the metabolic events that accompany sitting with just a few small modifications

It was an intriguing interview.  Emma is a Scottish doctor working in diabestes research in Leicester, with a focus on lifestyle issues, particularly the dangers of being sedentary.  The paper that they were discussing was

Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis

with the full paper available as a pdf here

In some ways it is the standard paper - sitting down is bad for you.

However, one thing that came up in the discussion which was fascinating was the idea of standing after rather than moving as such.  They spoke about a study which looked at lipoprotein lipase. This molecule plays a central role in how the body processes fats; it’s produced by many tissues, including muscles. Low levels  are associated with a variety of health problems, including heart disease. Studies in rats show that leg muscles only produce this molecule when they are actively being flexed (for example, when the animal is standing up and ambling about). The implication is that when you sit, a crucial part of your metabolism slows down.  Simply standing keeps muscles working in ways that sitting doesn’t. Sitting is so passive. The signals it sends are pretty negative.

I was not sure what the study was, so I emailed Dr Wilmot and she pointed me to

The Effect of Walking on Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes and Healthy People

and

Role of low energy expenditure and sitting in obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

That first one showed that even simply standing after a meal increased glucose control in healthy people.  Walking helped more but even simply standing was a big impact. 

There has been quite a lot of coverage of Dr Wilmot's review: e.g. at the BBC

Skewed views of science

via Bret Contreras.

Good stuff....somethings are true whether or not you like it!

Strength Training makes you a more efficient walker

This is really one for the Hillfit side of things.

Search pubmed for "walking economy" and you find some interesting things.  Walking economy is defined as "The rate of O2 consumed per distance covered during walking, which is related to ambulatory biomechanics and cardiac burden. "   

So we are thinking about how much oxygen it takes to walk a distance, which of course is related to the  amount of energy that you need to burn to cover that distance.  It is about the efficiency of your gait.  We are back to walking as a skill.  The more skilled you are at walking, the more efficient you will be, the less energy each step will take.

You can get more efficient by practising walking....obviously and skill conditioning is always important, but you can also improve walking economy by getting stronger!  Stronger muscles are more efficient.   You can appreciate that weak, flaccid muscles will waste energy in movement....

Maximal strength training improves walking performance in peripheral arterial disease patients

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients have reduced muscle strength and impaired walking ability. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of maximal strength training (MST) on walking economy and walking performance in PAD patients. Ten patients with mild to moderate-severe claudication, classified as Fontaine stage II PAD and with functional limitations from intermittent claudication were recruited and went through an 8-week control period followed by an 8-week, three times a week, MST period. The patients performed four sets of five repetitions dynamic leg press with emphasis on maximal mobilization of force in the concentric action and with a progressive adjusted intensity corresponding to 85-90% of one repetition maximum (1 RM). After the MST period, leg press 1 RM significantly increased by 35.0 ± 10.8 kg (31.3%). Dynamic rate of force development, measured on a force plate installed on the leg press, increased by 1424 ± 1217 N/s (102.7%). The strength improvements led to a significant increase in walking economy of 9.7% when walking horizontally, and to a significant increase in walking performance of 13.6% measured on an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion. No changes were apparent after the control period. No changes in body mass or peak oxygen uptake were observed. MST increases strength in Fontaine stage II PAD patients and leads to improved walking economy. These results suggest that application of MST could accompany aerobic endurance training as a part of the treatment of PAD patients with mild to moderate-severe claudication.

walking straddle planche

wow

Sleep through your TV to prevent fat gain?

We often read, and I have often pointed to, reports which stress the importance of sleep to health in general, but also to weight maintenance.    We also read of the dangers of sitting down too much -  our sedentary life is totally unnatural and stressful.

I just read this post, where a researcher brings those 2 ideas together - instead of watching your TV...take a nap.  Sleep through the programmes!  Sleep is better than just sitting....

Dr Buman’s work focuses on the relationship between physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep and health, and his talk was on a new cross-sectional study which examined the potential health impact of replacing time spent sitting down (e.g. sedentary behaviour) with light activity, moderate-to-vigorous activity, or even sleep.

Not surprisingly, he found that replacing sitting time with moderate or vigorous physical activity provides the biggest health benefit.  However, his analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggests that simply replacing your sitting time with light activity (e.g. standing or walking), or even sleep could result in significant health benefits

Here is a video where Dr Matt Buman of Arizona State University describes his new study which suggests that if people simply replaced their time sitting with time being active, or even with sleep, they would likely reduce their health risk.

When Sir Chris Hoy met Danny MacAskill

what an ultra does....

I have great admiration for ultra runners.  I follow a number of them via twitter and facebook and each year get excited when the West Highland Way Race is happening.   Still, I am not convinced that they are healthy!

Extensive inflammatory cell infiltration in human skeletal muscle in response to an ultra-endurance exercise bout in experienced athletes.

In conclusion, a low-intensity but very prolonged single endurance exercise bout can generate a strong inflammatory cell infiltration in skeletal muscle of well-trained experienced ultra-endurance athletes, and the amplitude of the local reaction is not proportional to the systemic inflammatory response.

Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?

....is the name of an excellent book....by Alex Hutchinson

but also the subject of this study that indicates that cardio before weights might not be as bad as we tend to think.   Then again....is there any such thing as cardio?

Aerobic exercise does not compromise muscle hypertrophy response to short-term resistance training.
AbstractThis study tested the hypothesis that chronic aerobic and resistance exercise (AE+RE) would elicit greater muscle hypertrophy than resistance exercise only (RE). Ten men (25±4 yrs) performed 5 wks unilateral knee extensor AE+RE. The opposing limb was subjected to RE. AE completed 6 hrs prior to RE, consisted of ~45 min one-legged cycle ergometry. RE comprised 4 x 7 maximal concentric-eccentric knee extensions. Various indices of in vivo knee extensor function were measured before and after training. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessed m. quadricep femoris (QF) cross-sectional area (CSA), volume, and signal intensity (SI). Biopsies obtained from m. vastus lateralis determined fiber CSA, enzyme levels and gene expression of myostatin, atrogin-1, MuRF-1, PGC-1α and VEGF. Increases (P < 0.05) in isometric strength and peak power, respectively were comparable in AE+RE (9 and 29%) and RE (11 and 24%). AE+RE showed greater increase (14%; P < 0.05) in QF volume than RE (8%). Muscle fiber CSA increased 17% after AE+RE (P < 0.05) and 9% after RE (P > 0.05). QF SI increased (12%; P < 0.05) after AE+RE, but not RE. Neither AE+RE nor RE showed altered mRNA-levels. Citrate Synthase activity increased (P < 0.05) after AE+RE. The results suggest that the increased aerobic capacity shown with AE+RE, was accompanied by a more robust increase in muscle size compared with RE. While this response was not carried over to greater improvement in muscle function, it remains that intense AE can be executed prior to RE without compromising performance outcome.

I still find it interesting that James Steele's review paper is clear that all of the metabolic, molecular and cardiovascular impacts of "cardio"  can be gained with less time investment, more efficiently, from proper resistance training.