Cheating

This was interesting.  A study on "cheating" - swinging the weights, using poor form, whatever you want to call it. 

They used a computer simulation of a lateral raise, adding a little momentum to the move to see what would happen.  The idea seems to be that added momentum (cheating) increases the torque on the muscles.

I'm not sure what I think of this...but I can't get past the idea that this is a computer simulation.


Does cheating pay: the role of externally supplied momentum on muscular force in resistance exercise.

Our work investigates the use of "external momentum" in the context of hypertrophy-oriented training. This is momentum supplied to the load (such as a dumbbell) used in an exercise by means of action of muscles not inherently involved in the exercise. We challenge the general consensus that the use of such momentum often described as "cheating" is counterproductive. We focus on the use of external momentum in the shoulder lateral raise and adopt a framework whereby exercise execution is simulated on a computer. This is achieved using a physical model of motion which is combined with anthropomorphic measurements and empirical data of muscular recruitment from previous work. The introduction of moderate momentum (producing initial angular velocities around 57.5° s(-1)) increases the torque of the target muscles even without an increase in the load used. A moderate increase in the load and the use of momentum allows the torque to be increased even further. In contrast, excessive use of momentum results in lower demands on the target muscles, while an excessive increase of the load reduces the total hypertrophy stimulus by virtue of the decreased number of repetitions which can be performed successfully and thus the dramatically shortened time under tension. Our results disprove the conventional belief that the use of external momentum necessarily reduces the overload of the target muscles. A moderate use of external momentum increases both the per-repetition peak torque and the total hypertrophy stimulus in a set.

Barefoot running efficiency

Not sure that it is all about efficiency....what about injury prevention ..... but you might be interested in this from here.

UPDATE- Someone pointed me to the comments to the Scientific American article and this one from Ken Schafer makes some excellent points, so I hope he doesn't mind me cutting and pasting:

..............I have read the study. This study had nothing to do with cushioned shoes. They took experienced barefoot runners. And compared how much energy they used running barefoot and how much energy they used running in very light weight minimalist running shoes (little to no cushion).

The subjects used slightly more energy when running barefoot. It is important to understand that the subjects maintained the same "barefoot" running technique with and without shoes. So this was not a test of fore-footed running technique vs. heel striking running technique. Most of the evidence to date indicates that the technique used by barefoot runners is more efficient than the heel landing technique that most people (from sedentary shoe wearing populations) use when running.

Second point, barefoot runners have NOT dominated distance running for decades. The person, who wrote this, in the caption above, has no idea what he is talking about. The African runners, who many times have grown up barefoot, and who often run using a fore-footed landing, have dominated distance running for decades, but mostly while wearing shoes. Finally, this was just one study. So it is the results are far from conclusive.

Some more intermittent fasting research

via Science Daily

In a paper published May 17 in Cell Metabolism, scientists from Salk's Regulatory Biology Laboratory reported that mice limited to eating during an 8-hour period are healthier than mice that eat freely throughout the day, regardless of the quality and content of their diet. The study sought to determine whether obesity and metabolic diseases result from a high-fat diet or from disruption of metabolic cycles.

The abstract is at Time-Restricted Feeding without Reducing Caloric Intake Prevents Metabolic Diseases in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

Nutritional regulation of muscle protein synthesis with resistance exercise

I just spotted this paper and it is definitely worth a read.  The whole thing is there for free download as a pdf:

Nutritional regulation of muscle protein synthesis with resistance exercise: strategies to enhance anabolism

Provision of dietary amino acids increases skeletal muscle protein synthesis (MPS), an effect that is enhanced by prior resistance exercise. As a fundamentally necessary process in the enhancement of muscle mass, strategies to enhance rates of MPS would be beneficial in the development of interventions aimed at increasing skeletal muscle mass particularly when combined with chronic resistance exercise. The purpose of this review article is to provide an update on current findings regarding the nutritional regulation of MPS and highlight nutrition based strategies that may serve to maximize skeletal muscle protein anabolism with resistance exercise. Such factors include timing of protein intake, dietary protein type, the role of leucine as a key anabolic amino acid, and the impact of other macronutrients (i.e. carbohydrate) on the regulation of MPS after resistance exercise. We contend that nutritional strategies that serve to maximally stimulate MPS may be useful in the development of nutrition and exercise based interventions aimed at enhancing skeletal muscle mass which may be of interest to elderly populations and to athletes.

Ankle strength changes with the seasons

This is an interesting one.

Serum [25(OH)D] status, ankle strength and activity show seasonal variation in older adults: relevance for winter falls in higher latitudes.

ankle dorsiflexor strength varied seasonally. Increased ankle strength in summer may be influenced by increased levels of outdoors activity over the summer months. Reduced winter-time dorsiflexor strength may predispose older people to increased risk of tripping-related falls, and warrants investigation in a multi-faceted falls prevention programme

Interesting that strength is always key.

Bulletproof Executive interviews Dr. Doug McGuff

It is no secret that I am a big fan of Doug McGuff.  I interviewed him here a couple of years ago and he was kind enough to give me a very good review for Hillfit.

There is an excellent interview with Doug at the Bulletproof Executive site that is very well worth listening to.

Podcast #26: Body By Science with Dr. Doug McGuff, MD

Back

So I am back to work and back to "normal" life after a tough couple of weeks.  For the last 6 months most of my life has been focussed on planning the elections in Edinburgh.  Polling on 3 May and the count on 4 May.  320,000 voters over 62,000 postal voters, 340 polling stations, 17 wards, 127 candidates.  Then on 2 May I was called to my Dad's bedside and I had to walk away from it all.  I drove south for 4 hours and then with my family sat with him for 48 hours until he died.  For most of that time I held his hand and talked to him.   When I arrived he was conscious and he saw me, smiled and tried to talk.

When I visited he would always hate it when I left to return to Scotland.  This time when I got to the hospital I told him that I was not going to leave him anymore, ever.  I remained there with him then.  And he died.  Finally all the confusion, the weakness was gone.  He was at rest.  I was with him all the time.

Now all seems a little empty.  After a long and hard week of administration - registering the death, organising the funeral, sorting out the will - I returned to Scotland.  The election was over.  All the drama finished with and I had missed it all.  I feel strangely dislocated from it.

And this blog....I will start posting things again, but at the moment it all seems a little frivolous.

Thanks for all the messages of support.