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.