An awesome ride

This is just a mind blow

BBC discovers intervals

how long is it since that Tabata study?  The BBC finally discover intervals



I commented on this over at the Body By Science site

Just watched the BBC Horizon programme and the key bit was about what they called HIT but was really HIIT - interval training on an exercise bike. This benefitted the subject who improved his insulin sensitivity but - due they said to his genetics - did not improve his VO2 Max. They explained how this intense exercise had an impact on his glucose metabolism, emptying his muscles of glycogen so that they were able to absorb more glucose form the blood.

This was good in that we are inching along towards an understanding of the benefits of intense exercise, but disappointing in that we never seem to go the whole way from interval training to intense resistance training. If you really want to empty your glycogen stores and have some intense exercise, then go for BBS style HIT!

The other thing was that I found it disconcerting that the scientist who was extolling HIIT was not lean but on the way to obesity…..

I go over all of this science in by book Hillfit by the way.

Martin Gibala has been researching this too for a while and at least he looks lean

tight ankles?

Watch where you are looking

Z Health have a thing about the impact of the visual system on strength - basically if you look up it facilitates extension, while looking down facilitates flexion.  I wrote about it in a post a ways back - The eyes have it...  This idea that eye position corrolates with muscle action: flexion is enhanced by looking down; extension by looking up came to mind when I saw this report /  study:

We make our eye movements earlier or later in order to coordinate with movements of our arms, New York University neuroscientists have found.

Another big jump

I am not my diet

There is more to me than what I eat or what I believe about what I eat.

The whole debate about carbs is worrying me.   People are not getting it as Dr Kurt Harris says we need to be macro agnostic.  Remove the bad stuff - primarily gluten grains and vegetable oils - then you have a lot of leeway.  But people become so identified with their diets that change becomes a challenge at an ontological level

Sometimes you need flexibility

Image from Scott Sonnon

Discrimination is bad, mmmkay?

This is a post copied from Nigel, but it is powerful.  My own Dad has dementia and the reality of it beings all this stuff to life.  I hope he excuses my hijacking of his material but it is very important.  I've seen those things too.....


Discrimination is bad, mmmkay?: What do the following three images have in common? Images found with Google Image search.










They are all unable to fend for themselves or express how they feel. They all need a lot of care and attention and can be very demanding. The last two also have to be fed & toileted.

So why is it that the first two images make people go "Squeeeeeeee!" but the third one doesn't?

Is it because the first two images give you something to look forward to but the third one doesn't?

We're all going to end up old one day if we're "lucky". Just hope and/or pray that when you get there, you either have caring partners and/or relatives to look after you, or independent care for the elderly has improved a lot. I've seen things.

Before you pull that all nighter......

For all you workaholics and stressed out students and executives....sleep deprivation is never worth it!


Via: Online Colleges Guide

Strength and Conditioning Research Review

I am an amateur at all this.  My day job is nothing to do with this stuff, but | remain fascinated by science, physical fitness and human performance.  I read all around the subject and daily scan the latest research, often posting abstracts here that interest me.  But my expertise is limited.  I look to others with a deeper background to really dissect the research and explain it to me.  There are a few people on the internet that do this regularly and helpfully and it is fantastic that two of them have teamed up to launch Strength and Conditioning Research.

A new monthly review

Chris Beardsley and Bret Contreras have just launched this  monthly, 50-page publication summarising the latest  research in strength and conditioning, biomechanics, physical therapy, and physiology.  Now both of those names should make you interested.  Chris has a really good blog where he dissects research studies explaining their implications and Bret while known primarily for his work on the glutes (he is the Glute Guy) regularly analyses new exercise science and interprets it for the layman, so you can apply it to your training.  Together they are offering something very valuable.

Each month they will sift through the journals, pick out the good stuff, analyse the research and summarise it.  I  have read the first issue and was taken aback by the sheer amount of work that these two guys have put into it.  I know from writing Hillfit just how hard it is to pull ideas together and present them simply and accurately.  This is not just cutting and pasting an abstract - they are translating the research and thinking about the application to your training.  Such work takes effort, time, experience and expertise and the result is very valuable but it is coming in at only $10 a month.

What do you get?

In the first issue they present analysis of almost 50 studies.  In each case they structure their material as Background, So what did the researchers do?,  So what happened?, So what were the conclusions? and Practical Implications.   For each study you get a real objective analysis and importantly that take away application.  There is a free extract here to give you an idea of what is on offer.

Here is Bret talking about the review:




How much does it cost?

If you sign up now, you can get the first edition for $1!  After that, they’re going to be $10 each, which is still a real bargain, given the amount of time and work that they must have put into the writing of each  article.  

I'd agree with Chris and Bret that you  won’t find this quality of information anywhere else  in this easily accessible format. I am looking forward to reading future issues and learning from them in my own training.

I have no hesitation in recommending that you subscribe to this thing.  At least order the first one - for $1 you cannot go wrong.

Disclosure - I do not get anything for this review, but I did receive a free copy of the first issue to read through.

Physical activity is good, but not if it is part of your job

The health paradox of occupational and leisure-time physical activity

Conclusion The hypothesis was rejected. In a dose–response manner, occupational physical activity increased the risk for LTSA (Long-term sickness absence), while leisure-time physical activity decreased the risk for LTSA. The findings indicate opposing effects of occupational and leisure-time physical activity on global health.

Interesting.   We are always told of the benefits of activity, but in the context of "work" it seems that it is not as healthy.  There will be lots of factors here - the repetitive nature of work, the psychological stress, the fact that physical jobs tend to be low paid and  so other elements of health may be missing - but I like to think that this illustrates the value of what Mark Sisson talks about in terms of play.  Work by definition is not playful.

Fatigue and Coordination

Yesterday I pointed to a study that said that muscular fatigue impairs coordination.  As usual I just did a hit and run post - highlighting the study and then letting you make your own conclusions.

Todd Hargrove picked it up and made some excellent points  (Todd always makes excellent points!)

1. To optimize motor learning, minimize fatigue

2. Skill under fatigue may be a skill in itself

3. To avoid skill deterioration from fatigue, work on your fitness



  Read the detail in his post.

Mitochondrial biogenesis

I made a quip the other week that at the moment the perfect study would mention mitchondria, the microbiome and epigenetics.  A comment added that neuroplasticity would help too.  These are the sexy subjects that are getting funded just now.

Well, this new study ticks one box at least.

Increased Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Muscle Improves Aging Phenotypes in the mtDNA Mutator Mouse

Interesting.  So how do you get more mitochondria?  Exercise including sprints and resistance training

Skills - practice when you are not tired

The Effect of Muscle Fatigue on Position Sense in an Upper Limb Multi-joint Task

When your muscles are tired you are less able to sense where your limbs are in space.  Think of the implications of this for complex skills.  Trying to use complex skills as strengthening moves is risky.

That is why I favour big simple movements with low skill levels.  Skill conditioning is something different.  I apply this in Hillfit

Should we be giving old people BCAAs?

So as you get older there is a loss of muscle, sarcopenia.  That can be reduced by exercise, but still the older body is not as good at synthesising muscle. 

Also as you get older people tend to eat less protein.  You can give them protein supplements....but  people don't always like to take them.

This study gave them Leucine supplements instead:

Leucine supplementation chronically improves muscle protein synthesis in older adults consuming the RDA for protein.

It looks promising.

Reduced sleep makes you overeat.....

This fits in with a lot of the studies I'd had before about the way in which lack of sleep can contribute to obesity....through messing up your brain and how it reacts to desires for  food.  Also it fits in with Stephan's work on food reward.

Sleep restriction leads to increased activation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli.

RESULTS
Overall neuronal activity in response to food stimuli was greater after restricted sleep than after habitual sleep. In addition, a relative increase in brain activity in areas associated with reward, including the putamen, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, insula, and prefrontal cortex in response to food stimuli, was observed.
CONCLUSIONS:
The findings of this study link restricted sleep and susceptibility to food stimuli and are consistent with the notion that reduced sleep may lead to greater propensity to overeat.

Strength training for stroke survivors

When it comes to strength training I am an enthusiast.  More than that I aspire to be an evangelist.  I want people to understand and realise the benefits that come to everyone from basic strength training.  Yes, athletes benefit but so do non athletes, the office worker, the elderly and the sick.   Strength training can be simple but will benefit in so many ways - improved balance, fewer falls, better insulin sensitivity, better leptin sensitivity, better energy metabolism.  Yet all these benefits are a mystery to the average person.  Exercise is a brisk walk when some modified pushups and squats could do so much.

That was one of the ideas I am trying to get across in the Hillfit book - basic, simple strength training for hiking and backpacking.

This is another study that highlights the benefits of strength training for stroke survivors:

Maximal Strength Training Enhances Strength and Functional Performance in Chronic Stroke Survivors.

After training, leg press strength improved by 30.6 kg (75%) and 17.8 kg (86%); plantarflexion strength improved by 35.5 kg (89%) and 28.5 kg (223%) for the unaffected and affected limbs, respectively, significantly different from the control period (all P < 0.01). The 6-min walk test improved by 13.9 m (within training period; P = 0.01), and the Timed Up and Go test time improved by 0.6 secs (within training period; P < 0.05). There were no significant changes in walking economy, peak aerobic capacity, Four-Square Step Test, or health-related quality-of-life after training.

Maximal strength training improved muscle strength in the most affected as well as in the non affected leg and improved Timed-Up-And-Go time and 6-min walk distance but did not alter Four-Step Square Test time, aerobic status, or quality-of-life among chronic stroke survivors.

While this study did not look say quality of life improved, the Get up and Go test and the walk distance certainly indicate improvements in function. 

There is a similar study here (full pdf available)  High-Intensity Resistance Training Improves Muscle Strength, Self-Reported Function, and Disability in Long-Term Stroke Survivors

Walking, getting out of a chair, climbing stairs...these are skills for which we need strength as we get older and as we get injured.

Running Barefoot - Sh*t Runners Say To Barefoot Runners

This is fantastic from Steven Sashen

Running Takedowns....

We haven't had any combative's on this blog for a while.  Let's put that right:

Proper Sitting & Lying

I have had Esther Gokhale on this blog before....but it was a while ago.  She is still going

Congruent Exercise - Wisdom from Bill DeSimone 3

Ok the next instalment of my thoughts on Bill's book.  (The series started here)

Summary of Chapter 2.  "Full Range of Motion" : Biomechanics or Buzzword

Fibre recruitment is not based on range of motion.  Rather fibre recruitment is proportional to the load and/or the speed .  It is not related to the joint angle! Thinking about how muscles contract, they are weaker at the extremes of the motion where there is either active or passive insufficiency.  It it through the middle of a muscle's contraction that it is strongest. 

We need to train the strongest range of the muscle, which will also mean avoiding lockout where the muscle is under no stress - there is zero lever and the bones take the strain.

We look to work the biomechanically strongest range, the joint angle for peak muscle torque;  we want to match the muscle's strongest postion with the most challenging part of the exercise, usually the sticking point or position of maximum moment arm, where the weight is at the further horizontal distance from the joint.

We also look to eliminate the lockout position and the end ranges of the muscle where there are either active or passive insufficiencies.

In addition, we need to avoid movements which create or pass through joint obstructions - that will only promote excess wear and tear and strain.

We should not seek a full range of motion but a full safe and appropriate range of motion!

So pick moves where the muscles are strongest at the point when the motion is hardest!

 

Quote from Bill

"Full range of motion", while a well-intentioned piece of instruction, was really a product of its time.  In the context of bodybuilders doing short pumping motions, and piling on weight for partial lockout reps it was a step in the right direction  But once it got taken out fo context, it went too far in unproductive ways and created a need for more precise instruction.  

John Sifferman on Elbow Plank VS Pushup-Position Plank

This is good.

In Hillfit I use the pushup plank as a test.  If you cannot hold this position for at least a minute then you have no business doing pushups - your core will fail so that you will not be able to keep the pushups going in proper form.

Real Food hits the Daily Mail

I normally can't stand the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the Mail (plus its on going cancer chronicles) but this is an interesting account of someone that stopped being a vegan, started eating meat and got healthy.

Damn your low fat diet: How a reformed vegan gorges on all the foods his granny enjoyed... and has never felt better

Some awesomeness

Congruent Exercise - Wisdom from Bill DeSimone 2

Ok the next instalment of my thoughts on Bill's book.  (The series started here)

Summary of Chapter1 - Avoiding the Tragic Accident: Biomechanics you need to know

• You need to avoid injury.  Some exercises, even those promoted in magazines, books and website make injury almost inevitable.  There are basic rules that need to be recognised
• Free weights get heavier as you bend - this is basic mechanics and leverage.  When the lever arm is longest - the maximum moment arm - it will feel the heaviest....so get into that hard position to start the movement;  go from hard to easy or else you may go from easy to hard and never get out of that position
• You can lower more than you can lift - so start with the positive movement not the negative.  Lift first, don't lower.  If you lower first you might be handlin a weight that you will not be able to lift.
• The spine is not designed to support top heavy loads - the bones of the spine are set up as a pyramid, the whole design is for stability.  The lumbar spine is made for stability, the thoracic for some mobility and the cervical for great mobility.  The muscles are built in layers, the rotatores, multifidis, erectors.  The whole set up is for stability vertebrae to vertebrae, not overall movement.  These small muscles are about posture and holding the spine stable, it is the big muscles of the hip that move weight.   When you pile a weight on top of all this, the bones and muscles are loaded in a way that they were never intended to cope with.
• Balance - on one leg the small muscles of the hip and spine are at work.  The glute medius for example has a primary role of pulling the pelvis down to maintain the centre of gravity ove the grounded foot when you are on one leg.  The spine follows this motion.  In bodyweight moves it is all about stabilisation.  Add weight and you are forcing motion and loading that is inappropriate.  So keep added weight near your centre so that the prime mover move you while the stabilisers stabilise....
• Weights Load Limbs, while the deep muscles stabilise joints....to allow the superficial muscles to move those loaded limbs.  Don't confuse the two.
• Adopt proper function with respect to bones, muscles and joints and you will avoid catastrophe, reduce strain and more effectively load the muscles.

The take away:

• Start motions with a positive / concentric motion, from the position of maximum moment arm. 
• Don't load the spine with weight on your shoulders
• Let the postural muscles stabilise, not act as prime movers 

Quote from Bill

There's no magic attached to one technique or tool vs the other.  There are however, specific, documented ways that muscles and joints are supposed to function, and walking into a gym doesn't change that.

A few thoughts on what matters

So it was a long day at work with a variety of stresses and challenges.  At the end of it I sat back, drank a glass of wine and thought about the day in the context of the rest of my life.  This is what resulted:

It is ok to be nice. Alphas are overrated and the true alphas are the good guys. In the nursing home the winner is the guy with the smile,  the alphas burned out long ago or are sitting there alone with no visitors. 

Humour, being cheeky, being human is right and can be professional.  I like you.  I want to help.   If you do not see the humour then you are lost.

You still need to know your subject. Honesty beats confidence.  Don't talk rubbish with confidence.  The ones who know their stuff will realise that you are empty.

You buy from those you like and that includes buying ideas. So be likeable.

Nothing is really that important.   Stand back for a minute, think of your best moment then return to your problem.

You will die, become sick or demented. What will matter then? Truth matters. Love matters.  Moments matter - that hug, sunset, meal, laugh.

What more do you want?

Congruent Exercise - Wisdom from Bill DeSimone 1

I have been meaning to write a long review of Bill's book - Congruent Exercise (now on Amazon).  I have already done something short, but it deserves something longer and more detailed.  However I am struggling for time at the moment. 

What I might do is a series of short posts.  Pulling out some of the profound wisdom from the book.  However, I'd still recommend that you buy and read the thing, both to support Bill and to make your training safer and more effective.  It is certainly something that I have tried to apply in my book Hillfit on fitness training for hiking.

Summary of the introduction

The book is about delivering the benefits of weight-training without the risk of ether acute or chronic injury.  This risk can be minimised by applying the most appropriate joint movements, posture and leverage (moment arm) in other words, biomechanics.  This approach is not specific to any equipment - it is a filter through which to shape exercise with bodyweight, free weights or machines.

Quote from Bill:

The one constant is your body and biomechanics.

Neuroplasticity

The brain is at the centre of it all.  Tim Anderson's work in Becoming Bulletproof, Todd Hargrove's work, Feldenkrais, Somatics.....all of it comes back to what the brain is doing, learning and modelling.

This is a good article that outlines the background to all this work:

The Brain: How The Brain Rewires Itself

Medical uses of illegal drugs

I thought this was an interesting infographic.....


Via: Medical Billing and Coding Guide

Sitting wrecks your hip action

Depression and DNA aging

An interesting one in line with the impact of mind, attitude and social factors on our overall health.

The report is here - Does depression contribute to the aging process?

Stress has numerous detrimental effects on the human body. Many of these effects are acutely felt by the sufferer, but many more go 'unseen', one of which is shortening of telomere length.

Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes and are indicators of aging, as they naturally shorten over time. However, telomeres are also highly susceptible to stress and depression, both of which have repeatedly been linked with premature telomere shortening.

The human stress response is regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. This axis controls the body's levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and it generally does not function normally in individuals with depression- and stress-related illnesses.

More on stretching

My posts on the stretching research often prompt some reaction.   Mike Robertson has a really helpful post which pulls together a lot of the research on stretching:  Q&A: Is Static Stretching Good?
It is not a simple as don't stretch, the issue is when and why:

This is perhaps the most important question – not only is it important that we choose the right type of stretch, but we also need to perform the right stretch at the right time.

For example, I love dynamic stretching – but doing it before bed isn’t a great idea. Who wants to be fired up and neurally primed right before bed?

Don’t answer that

Or imagine an elite athlete getting ready to hit the field – do they want to static stretch (and calm their nervous system and relax their muscles) right before they go out and sprint, run or cut explosively?

Here’s a general framework of when you should use each type of stretch:

• Use static stretches immediately before bed. This will not only help you relax but calm the nervous system and promotes better sleep.  One exception could be to use static stretching before lifting sessions if the primary focus of your session/training block is improving mobility, or if you need to increase extensibility in a specific muscle group (i.e. the hip flexors).
• Use dynamic stretches pre-workout, or as part of a mobility circuit throughout the day.
• Use EQI’s immediately post-workout, and only on muscle groups or areas that have been found to be short or too stiff in relation to adjacent segments.

Another one on sleep and obesity

Short sleep duration in association with CT-scanned abdominal fat areas

Shorter sleep duration is associated with higher BMI, WC and SFA in men. Further research is needed to explicate the biological mechanisms behind these relationships and to see whether interventions addressing inadequate sleep could treat or prevent obesity by taking gender differences into consideration.

I suppose I should go to bed now.   There have been lots of studies showing this association now.  The mechanisms might not be clear but there is certainly something here.

Zen and the Art of Elderly Care

Just a quick post prompted by spending the weekend with my Dad.  He has dementia.  Last week he got a bad infection that meant he had to be taken to a different hospital for treatment.  While there he picked up a dose of noro-virus.  Great.  It is one thing after another when you enter care.

I did get a chance to spend time with him though, which was great.  What struck me most in those conversations was the way in which my Dad is living totally in the NOW.  Yes he is confused about the past and his location, but his own immediate past means nothing to him.  All that matters is where he is NOW, who he is talking to NOW, who is holding his hand, laughing with his jokes, helping him dress.....NOW.   It is Zen-like I suppose and made me think about the nature of time, eternity and our experience of it.  Lots of philosophies talk about mindfulness and the need to be aware of the present moment as all we have.  Even in Christian theology eternity is outwith time.

That is where my Dad is now.  The moment is all - yes the past is swirling around him, but he is really only affected by what is right here right now.   It is a lesson.  Most of my life is spent worrying about work or family, busy with plans and regrets, but the NOW can pass me by.  My Dad does not have that problem, but his NOW is a difficult situation.    I need to grab the NOW and live it.


Related to all this was a post that Nigel put up today abou the way in which old people in Care Homes are chronically starved of sunlight.  They need their D. 

I would not normally give people cakes, pastries and sugary drinks.  I think crap food is a huge problem responsible for many health issues.  However now I happily give my Dad cakes and pastries - he enjoys them and it is too late now for him.

90 degree pushups

Like, er ...... wow.



This guy is amazing.  But of course we knew that.

Of course you need to drink more...

This one amused me, especially in the light of Matt Stone's recent post!

In the past I've had a few posts up on this blog which had tried to state that the meme of 8 glasses of water a day had no basis in science - for example the Water Myth!

Then this news release pops up on Eureka:

Cranky today? Even mild dehydration can alter our moods

Scary stuff.

But of  course if you read further you get this interesting bit of information:

The dehydration studies were supported by Danone Research of France

Danone?  Oh that's right, Danone sell Evian and Volvic water..... is it any surprise that they want you to drink more of it?!

Get real folks.   The modern obsession with water is a marketing trick.

The mind

This is just  a marker to remind myself to do a post on some of the interesting things I've been reading about the mind, particularly the work of Dr Marcora and the psychobiological theory of exhaustion .

Powerlifting and bone density

I like this nice careful conclusion. Looking at a couple of veteran power lifters they find better than average bone density..... But the conclusion is tentative.

Although these results do not prove any causal relationship between long-term high-intensity strength training and elevated BMDs among women, they do raise questions that some type of relationship may exist.

The study is Case Study: Bone Mineral Density of Two Elite Senior Female Powerlifters

Slow pistols

Not orthodox superslow or RenEx, but this shows a lot of strength.....

Usain Bolt and differential calculus

I love this guy's videos.....

I did not realise that sprinting was about differential calculus!  I wish he had been teaching me maths 25 years ago.

Stretching for Hillwalking & Hiking

Over on the Hillfit site I've started to post a few short articles which fit in with the them of the book.

Get in shape for hiking - get strong!  Looks at the importance of basic strength for hiking backpacking and hillwalking

Should hikers stretch?  looks at why stretching as a warm up is not necessarily a great idea

Both link in to themes that I've explored on this blog but both are intended to arouse interest in my book Hillfit:Strength.

Thinking about stretching, Jamie Scott helpfully pointed me towards an interesting new review of static stretching and its impact on performance.  

 Does pre-exercise static stretching inhibit maximal muscular performance?

We applied a meta-analytical approach to derive a robust estimate of the acute effects of pre-exercise static stretching (SS) on strength, power, and explosive muscular performance. A computerized search of articles published between 1966 and December 2010 was performed using PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases. A total of 104 studies yielding 61 data points for strength, 12 data points for power, and 57 data points for explosive performance met our inclusion criteria. The pooled estimate of the acute effects of SS on strength, power, and explosive performance, expressed in standardized units as well as in percentages, were -0.10 [95% confidence interval (CI): -0.15 to -0.04], -0.04 (95% CI: -0.16 to 0.08), and -0.03 (95% CI: -0.07 to 0.01), or -5.4% (95% CI: -6.6% to -4.2%), -1.9% (95% CI: -4.0% to 0.2%), and -2.0% (95% CI: -2.8% to -1.3%). These effects were not related to subject's age, gender, or fitness level; however, they were more pronounced in isometric vs dynamic tests, and were related to the total duration of stretch, with the smallest negative acute effects being observed with stretch duration of ≤45 s. We conclude that the usage of SS as the sole activity during warm-up routine should generally be avoided.

Now not to be misunderstood - I am not against all stretching.  However, he conclusion is clear and precise - static stretching as the only thing you do in a warm up is to be avoided..... 

Those old triathletes

Ken Hutchins of Renaissance Exercise makes a good point about that study about the incredible old triathletes  .

"There are amazing CAT scans contrasting the muscularity of triathletic and sedentary elder men. It is apparent that destroying your body in a triathlon can, at least, maintain your muscularity. Or, perhaps the difference is completely due to a genetic aberration whereby the above-average muscularity of the elder man merely enables him to destroy his body in the triathlon. Of course, it is also true that such activities are sarcopenic. "

I had not thought of that when I saw the study but logically he is right. There may be survivor bias going on.   Those still training at 70 are those that have survived....how many have not managed to make it that far through injury or whatever?  What can we really conclude from that study?

D is for balance

An interesting review on the impact of Vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, gait and balance in older adults

Effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, gait and balance in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Supplemental vitamin D with daily doses of 800 to 1,000 IU consistently demonstrated beneficial effects on strength and balance. An effect on gait was not demonstrated, although further evaluation is recommended.

So one to give the old people....

mitochondria...microbiome...epigenetics

Sitting on the edge of science watching these reports of studies coming at me, just now I think that the sexiest study you could publish at the moment would involve mitochondria, the microbiota and epigenetics.

Protein before bed

This looks interesting

Protein Ingestion Prior To Sleep Improves Post-Exercise Overnight Recovery

INTRODUCTION:
The role of nutrition in modulating post-exercise overnight recovery remains to be elucidated. We assessed the impact of protein ingestion immediately prior to sleep on digestion and absorption kinetics and protein metabolism during overnight recovery from a single bout of resistance type exercise.
METHODS:
16 healthy young males performed a single bout of resistance type exercise in the evening (20:00) after a full day of dietary standardisation. All subjects were provided with appropriate recovery nutrition (20 g protein, 60 g carbohydrate) immediately after exercise (21:00). Thereafter, 30 min prior to sleep (23:30 h) subjects ingested a beverage with (PRO) or without (PLA) 40 g specifically produced intrinsically [1-C]phenylalanine labeled casein protein. Continuous intravenous infusions with [ring-H5]phenylalanine and [ring-H2]tyrosine were applied with blood and muscle samples collected to assess protein digestion and absorption kinetics, whole-body protein balance and mixed muscle protein synthesis rates throughout the night (7.5 h).
RESULTS:
During sleep casein protein was effectively digested and absorbed resulting in a rapid rise in circulating amino acid levels which were sustained throughout the remainder of the night. Protein ingestion prior to sleep increased whole-body protein synthesis rates (311±8 vs 246±9 ∼mol·kg·7.5 h ) and improved net protein balance (61±5 vs -11±6 μmol·kg·7.5 h ) in the PRO vs PLA experiment, respectively; P<0.01). Mixed muscle protein synthesis rates were ∼22% higher in the PRO vs PLA experiment, which reached borderline significance (0.059±0.005 vs 0.048±0.004 %·h; P=0.05).
CONCLUSION:
This is the first study to show that protein ingested immediately prior to sleep is effectively digested and absorbed, thereby stimulating muscle protein synthesis and improving whole-body protein balance during post-exercise, overnight recovery.

Paleo Sleep

When I interviewed Erwan Le Corre a couple of years ago, one of the things I asked about was sleep.  I was expecting an answer about the importance of sleep to health and recovery but while that was there, he also talked about where and how to sleep:

Sleeping enough, resting frequently, going to bed early, leave a window open to make sure air is renewed, avoiding synthetic fabrics.

I personally like to sleep on the floor, not in a bed, not even on a real mattress. To me it's more comfortable this way, and this way I can sleep about anywhere without experiencing discomfort whenever I'm travelling.

I thought of Erwan's answer today when I was on Facebook and saw that Mark Reifkind had posted a link to a really interesting study of how hunter gatherers sleep.  The paper is a few years old but it is fascinating:

Instinctive sleeping and resting postures: an anthropological and zoological approach to treatment of low back and joint pain

The whole paper is there and is worth reading.  This is the summary

• Forest dwellers and nomads suffer fewer musculoskeletal lesions than “civilised” people
• Nature's automatic manipulator during sleep is the kickback against the vertebrae by the ribs when the chest is prevented from movement by the forest floor
• Various resting postures correct different joints
• Pillows are not necessary

 Largely anecdotal evidence has been collected by “old timers” for over 50 years from non-Western societies that low back pain and joint stiffness is markedly reduced by adopting natural sleeping and resting postures. This observation must be recorded to allow further research in this direction as these primitive societies no longer exist and the great apes living in the wild are heading for extinction. All we have to do is to be good primates and use these preventive techniques.

Mountain Trail Walking Study

I suppose this one is for Hillfit?  Nothing very exciting - walking in the mountains is hard work and neither BCAA nor arginine supplementation have much impact.

Energy expenditure during 2-day trail walking in the mountains (2,857 m) and the effects of amino acid supplementation in older men and women

We compared relative exercise intensity and active energy expenditure (AEE) on trail walking in the mountains, with those of daily exercise training, and whether branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) and arginine supplementation attenuated the release of markers indicating muscle damage and declines in physical performance. Twenty-one subjects (~63 years) were divided into two groups: amino acid (AA, 51 g of amino acids and 40 g of carbohydrate, male/female = 6/4) or placebo (PL, 91 g of carbohydrate, male/female = 6/5) supplementation during 2 days of trail walking in the mountains. We measured heart rate (HR), AEE, fatigue sensation, water and food intake, and sweat loss during walking. In addition, we measured peak aerobic capacity (VO2peak) and heart rate (HRpeak) with graded-intensity walking, vertical jumping height (VJ) before and after walking. We found that average HR and AEE during uphill walking were ~100% HRpeak and ~60% VO2peak, while they were ~80 and ~20% during downhill walking, respectively. Moreover, average total AEE per day was sevenfold that of their daily walking training. VJ after walking remained unchanged compared with the baseline in AA (P > 0.2), while it was reduced by ~10% in PL (P < 0.01), although with no significant difference in the reduction between the groups (P > 0.4). The responses of other variables were not significantly different between groups (all, P > 0.2). Thus, trail walking in the mountains required a high-intensity effort for older people, while the effects of BCAA and arginine supplementation were modest in this condition.

It is all getting epigenetic now

Reading through a few abstracts today I was noticing how lots of research is looking at epigenetics - how environmental factors affect the status of genes - which ones are turned on or off to over simplify things. Here is a typical one

Effects of mild-exercise training cessation in human skeletal muscle

Stoppage of endurance exercise training leads to complete loss of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) gain but not submaximal exercise blood lactate concentrations. However, the detailed mechanisms are still unknown. Thus, we investigated the effects of exercise-training cessation at lactate threshold (LT) intensity on physiological adaptations and global mRNA expressions in human skeletal muscle. The VO2max, muscle capillaries density and global gene expression were measured after 12 weeks of LT training, and after 12 weeks of detraining. Twelve weeks of detraining reversed the effect of 12 weeks LT training on VO2max and VO2 at LT intensity, although the later value was higher than the pre-training level. Moreover, the training cessation did not affect the number of capillaries around type I fiber, which was increased by training. The training modulated 243 characterized transcripts, in which 77% showed a significant reversible effect by detraining. However, the transcripts most-induced by the training were still elevated after the same period of detraining. The pathway and network analysis revealed that these genes were related to oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos), calcium signalling and tissue development. Therefore, these physiological and transcriptional changes suggest improved oxygen supply and OxPhos in the skeletal muscle, which may contribute to the incomplete loss of absolute VO2 at LT intensity after training cessation. The present study does not only demonstrate, for the first time, sustained effects of training after detraining at the transcriptional level, but also indicates the possible signalling pathways.

The researchers are no longer just looking at what the exercise or cessation of exercise does directly to the body.   Beyond that they are looking at how exercise changes gene expression.  In this case, exercise seems to have long lasting impacts on the genes that enhance oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos), calcium signalling and tissue development.  These changes persist even when people stop training.

It is really fascinating.  Exercise changes what your genes set you up for.

Muscle and cancer - It is not getting old that is the problem, it is getting weaker!

I saw this get picked up in a few places but no one was linking to the actual study.  The takeaway message is that building and maintaining muscle strength is vital to all for overall health and this extends to surviving cancer.  It is not getting old that is the problem, it is getting weaker!

Researchers studied patients with advanced melanoma to understand the illness as it related to muscle strength. They looked at CT scans of the psoas muscle in order to measure core muscle density. The authors then correlated the core muscle density with the risk of metastasis, or spreading of the cancer. 

Patients with higher muscle density were found to have significantly better survival rates and less metastasis.  The authors concluded that decreased muscle density was an important predictor in the outcome of the disease. Furthermore, they stated that “frailty, not age, was associated with decreased disease-free survival.”

Here is theabstract

Sarcopenia as a Prognostic Factor among Patients with Stage III Melanoma.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several hypotheses proposed to explain the worse prognosis for older melanoma patients include different tumor biology and diminished host response. If the latter were true, then biologic frailty, and not age, should be an independent prognostic factor in melanoma.

METHODS: Our prospective institutional review board (IRB)-approved database was queried for stage III patients with computed tomography (CT) scans at time of lymph node dissection (LND). Psoas area (PA) and density (PD) were determined in semi-automated fashion. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) survival estimates and Cox proportional-hazard models were used to determine PA and PD impact on survival and surgical complications.

RESULTS: Among 101 stage III patients, PD was significantly associated with both disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.04) and distant disease-free survival (DDFS) (P = 0.0002). Cox multivariate modeling incorporating thickness, age, ulceration, and N stage showed highly significant association with PD and both DFS and DDFS. DDFS was significantly associated with Breslow thickness (P = 0.04), number of positive nodes (P = 0.001), ulceration (P = 0.04), and decreasing muscle density (P = 0.01), with hazard ratio of 0.55 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35-0.87]. PD also correlated with surgical complications, with odds ratio (OR) of 1.081 [95% CI 1.016-1.150, P = 0.01]. 

CONCLUSIONS: Decreased psoas muscle density on CT, an objective measure of frailty, was as important a predictor of outcome as tumor factors in a cohort of stage III melanoma patients. On multivariate analysis, frailty, not age, was associated with decreased disease-free survival and distant disease-free survival, and higher rate of surgical complications.

A bit more barefooting

Marc from Feel Good Eating pointed me towards this one from yesterday's NY Times:

Does Foot Form Explain Running Injuries?

But, says Mr. Daoud, who was himself an oft-injured heel-striker during his cross-country racing days, "if you have experienced injury after injury and you're a heel-striker, it might be worth considering a change." (If you're unsure of your strike pattern, have a friend videotape you from the side as you run, he suggests, then use slow motion to watch how your foot hits the ground.)

If you do decide to reshape your stride, proceed slowly, he cautions. Many people who abruptly switch to barefoot running or a forefoot running form get hurt in the process, he says. The body's tissues adapt to the forces generated by long-term heel striking. Change your form, and the forces will affect different parts of the leg, leading to soreness and, potentially, injury.

Try landing on the ball of your foot "for five minutes at first at the end of a run," Mr. Daoud suggests. Work up to longer periods of forefoot landings as your body adjusts and only if you do not notice significant, continuing soreness.

In his own case, Mr. Daoud now runs consistently with a forefoot landing style, but the transition was not seamless. "I broke a metatarsal while running my first marathon after transitioning a bit too quickly and expecting a bit too much from my body too soon," he says. So fair warning to those considering making the transition to forefoot landings: "Give your body time!"

I think I had mentioned this research before but it is good to see it getting broader readership

Keep off the antioxidant supplements

This one has been brewing for a while but now it seems fairly solid -  antioxidant supplements are, at the least, useless.  Stumptuous would like it (beware of the bad language). 

This is an amazing letter

TO THE EDITOR: In a recent paper by Higashida et al. (5), the authors report that very large doses of antioxidant vitamins do not prevent the exercise-induced adaptive responses of muscle mitochondria, GLUT4, and insulin action to exercise. As clearly stated in the paper, their data disagree with those reported by three independent research groups from Germany (14), Australia (17), and Spain (4).

Using a significantly different experimental protocol regarding exercise training intensity and duration, antioxidant supplementation (doses and types of antioxidants), and molecular parameters analyzed (mRNA vs. protein levels), Higashida et al. compared their data with ours and came to exactly the opposite conclusions, i.e., that antioxidant vitamin supplementation does not have an inhibitory effect on the adaptive responses of skeletal muscle to exercise. Regarding our study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (4), we found a very significant increase (∼186%) in endurance time in rats after training (6 wk), which was dramatically blunted when the animals were supplemented with vitamin C (∼26% increment). Endurance capacity is directly related to mitochondrial content, which is why we decided to determine the mitochondrial biogenesis cascade in skeletal muscle in our animals, and we found that it was significantly hampered. Although we found a dramatic effect of vitamin C on endurance time in animals, we did not find the same effect on V̇O2 max in either the animal study or the human study. This is clearly stated and discussed in the introduction, results, and discussion sections of our paper. However, Higashida et al. did not run any performance tests in their study; moreover, they misquoted a few times the results obtained in our human study. Training studies, including the data published by Higashida et al., conducted to determine whether antioxidant vitamins improve exercise performance, have generally shown that supplementation is useless (3, 7, 13, 18, 20). However, recent evidence shows that they can be worse than useless. Several studies suggest that antioxidants may have detrimental effects on performance. As early as 1971, it was shown that vitamin E supplementation (400 IU/day for 6 wk) caused unfavorable effects on endurance performance in swimmers (15). The authors concluded: “There is no evidence here to suggest that vitamin E has any beneficial effect on endurance performance. Indeed the evidence, if anything, suggests that the vitamin has an unfavourable effect.” Malm and coworkers (10, 11) showed, in two consecutive studies, the deleterious effects of ubiquinone-10 supplementation on the performance of humans after a high-intensity training program. In 2002, it was shown that supplementation of racing greyhounds with 1 g vitamin C/day for 4 wk significantly slowed their speed (12). Moreover, in a human study, the negative effects of ascorbic acid supplementation on the adaptive responses of endogenous antioxidant enzymes and stress proteins were demonstrated (8). Furthermore, it has been shown that supplementation with ascorbic acid to prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness after exercise does not preserve muscle function but hinders the recovery process, thereby being detrimental to future performance (2). Finally, in our animal study, we found that vitamin C supplementation decreases training efficiency because it prevents exercise-induced mitochondrial biogenesis (4). Similar conclusions have been recently achieved by a US-based research group (6). The authors found that inhibition of a free radical-generating enzyme (xanthine oxidase) by allopurinol severely attenuates exercise activation of the mitochondrial biogenesis pathway in skeletal muscle. Thus, in our opinion and contrary to the considerations of Higashida et al., there is growing evidence of the negative effects of antioxidant supplementation in exercise performance in both animal and human studies.

The evidence on the detrimental effects of antioxidant supplementation when given to patients and healthy people (non athletes) is, if possible, more robust. In 2007, Bjerlakovic et al. looked at data from sixty-seven studies on antioxidant supplements and they concluded that beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E supplementation seemed to increase the risk of death (1). This data confirmed previous reports showing that long-term vitamin E supplementation may increase the risk for heart failure in patients with vascular disease or diabetes mellitus (9). When a 6-wk aerobic exercise training program was applied in patients with hypertension, supplementation of antioxidants (vitamins C and E and α-lipoic acid) led to an enhancement of blood pressure and an inhibition of exercise-induced flow-mediated vasodilatation (19). Finally, one of us (M. Ristow) showed that antioxidant supplementation with vitamins C and E prevents the induction of molecular regulators of insulin sensitivity and endogenous antioxidant defense by physical exercise (14).

A significant number of both healthy and sick individuals are taking antioxidant supplements in the belief that these will improve their health and prevent or ameliorate diseases (1). Moreover, a large proportion of athletes, including elite athletes, take vitamin supplements, often large doses, seeking beneficial effects on performance (16). The complete lack of any positive effect of antioxidant supplementation on physiological and biochemical outcomes consistently found in human and animal studies raises questions about the validity of using oral antioxidant supplementation in both health and disease.

The vast majority of experimental evidence clearly advises against this supplementation. Thus, we unreservedly confirm the conclusions derived from our previous research (4, 14) and disagree with Higashida et al. In our opinion, antioxidant supplements are, at the least, useless.

fasting ...cancer...we have heard this before?

 Fasting Weakens Cancer in Mice

Man may not live by bread alone, but cancer in animals appears less resilient, according to a study that found chemotherapy drugs work better when combined with cycles of short, severe fasting. Even fasting on its own effectively treated a majority of cancers tested in animals, including cancers from human cells.

The full study is here, well the abstract anyway

A Birthday dinner

OK, so today I am 44.  I am not going to give one of those daft macho posts about how I will kick old age in the arse.  It is coming to us all and we cannot stop it. I am sure we can delay and cut the risk of disease, but believe me one day you will be old and disabled or you will be dead.  Today is what you have.  NOW!  Live it right now and prepare for eternity.

Bah

Anyway tonight was a meal to celebrate my birthday and we went to Wedgewood on the Royal Mile, my favourite Edinburgh restaurant.  The dining room has been redecorated and refreshed recently and it has made a difference to the feel of the place.  (I'd recommend this place or Le Sept to a visitor to Edinburgh.  Le Sept is my regular lunchtime haunt, while Wedgewood is for special occasions)  It was   - as ever - well presented.  It all tasted fantastic too.

the amuse bouche

Rabbit terrine with piccalilli and sweetcorn ice-cream

Salmon, mash, shrimp, some green stuff

goats cheese demifrio and this wierd red onion balsamic sorbet

Fantastic stuff t

Hills not Pills

My article in this month's TGO is called Hills not Pills and looks at the psychological benefits of exercise in the outdoors. (some references for the piece are here) Others have written about this recently - like Chris Kresser - but one of the things that prompted me to write was learning just how many people rely on antidepressants.  It is true here in the UK but also across the world as this graphic shows.


Created by: MedicalBillingAndCodingCertification.net

Just go outside for a walk

our genome is not prepared for grains

More on social stress

I had a post up the other day on the inflammatory effects of social stress.  Here is another one for your consideration. 

Comparing yourself to others can have health impacts
although this one just indicates that things are...complicated (as ever)

the slow middle finger....

No, this is not about an obscene gesture. 

Rather I just wanted to point to this fascinating report of a study that I saw today.  The role of the brain in movement is fascinating and I've become increasingly interested in the whole area of neuroplasticity.  Todd Hargrove continuously writes compelling and intriguing material on the role of the bran and nervous system in movement and through him I've been reading around Feldenkrais.  Z Health and its ideas about proprioception and the arthokinetic reflex are another area that I would like to lose myself in with study if I had the time.  Then there is the work of Tim Anderson with Becoming Bulletproof and Pressing Reset which give practical prescriptions for work to enhance this set of skills and senses, thinking about how movement is at the root of all of who we are. 

I always find it interesting that in Christian theology there is no place for disembodied spirits.  We are body, soul and spirit.  We need a body to be human.  It is through the body that we interact and influence the world.  The Bible talks of the resurrection of the body so that in eternity we have bodies....not just spirits floating around.  But what ever your own personal spirituality, right now we are in bodies and movement is fundamental to what they are and to their health.

Anyway enough of that, this study looked at the nature of our plastic brain, a brain that changes and develops in reaction to how we move, to the skills that we develop.

Why the middle finger has such a slow connection

Thumb and little finger are the quickest

The researchers set subjects a simple task to measure the speed of decision: they showed them an image on a monitor that represented all ten fingers. If one of the fingers was marked, the subjects were to press a corresponding key as quickly as possible with that finger. The thumb and little finger were the fastest. The middle finger brought up the rear. "You might think that this has anatomical reasons or depends on the exercise" said Dr Dinse, "but we were able to rule that out through further tests. In principle, each finger is able to react equally quickly. Only in the selection task, the middle finger is at a distinct disadvantage."

Computer simulation depicts brain maps

To explain their observations, the researchers used computer simulations based on a so-called mean-field model. It is especially suited for modelling large neuronal networks in the brain. For these simulations, each individual finger is represented by a group of nerve cells, which are arranged in the form of a topographic map of the fingers based on the actual conditions in the somatosensory cortex of the brain. "Adjacent fingers are adjacent in the brain too, and thus also in the simulation", explained Dr. Dinse. The communication of the nerve cells amongst themselves is organised so that the nerve cells interact through mutual excitation and inhibition.

Inhibitory influences from both sides slow down the middle finger

The computer simulations showed that the longer reaction time of the middle finger in a multiple choice task is a consequence of the fact that the middle finger is within the inhibition range of the two adjacent fingers. The thumb and little finger on the other hand only receive an inhibitory effect of comparable strength from one adjacent finger each. "In other words, the high level of inhibition received by the nerve cells of the middle fingers mean that it takes longer for the excitement to build up – they therefore react more slowly" said Dr. Dinse.

Targeted reduction of the inhibition through learning

From the results of the computer simulation it can be concluded that weaker inhibition from the neighbouring fingers would shorten the reaction time of the middle finger. This would require a so-termed plastic change in the brain – a specialty of the Neural Plasticity Lab, which has been studying the development of learning protocols that induce such changes for years. One such protocol is the repeated stimulation of certain nerve cell groups, which the laboratory has already used in many experiments. "If, for example, you stimulate one finger electrically or by means of vibration for two to three hours, then its representation in the brain changes" explained Dr. Dinse. The result is an improvement in the sense of touch and a measurable reduction of the inhibitory processes in this brain area. This also results in the enlargement of the representation of the finger stimulated.

Second experiment confirms the prediction

The Bochum researchers then conducted a second experiment in which the middle finger of the right hand was subjected to such stimulation. The result was a significant shortening of the reaction time of this finger in the selection task. "This finding confirms our prediction" Dr. Dinse summed up. Thus, for the first time, Bochum's researchers have established a direct link between the so-called lateral inhibitory processes and decision making processes. They have shown that learning processes that change the cortical maps can have far-reaching implications not only for simple discrimination tasks, but also for decision processes that were previously attributed to the so-called "higher" cortical areas.

It is this idea that you can get better at a skill through practice and that this practice changes the brain that fascinates and amazes me.  It is a motivation to move and to keep growing.

That massage study

Like everyone else I was quick to jump on the abstract of that massage study at the weekend.  Paul at Save Yourself is a lot more considered and his analysis is first rate.  Nothing against massage - it is good and it works for certain things - but we need to be careful about the science.  Paul's stuff is always well thought out and well researched.  He puts me to shame.

Take the time to read his analysis of the study and the way it has been reported:

Massage reduces inflammation and promotes mitochondria?

Some interesting new scraps of basic biology evidence are scientific miles away from proof of therapy

Muscle Heat Stress - grows new mitochondria

This is an interesting study.  It is a bit of a cliche, but everyone talks about the mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell.  They are where ATP, the energy currency of the cell is produced.  The more mitochondria you have the more fuel you will be able to generate in your muscles. (OK I am over simplifying)


Studies into interval training have found that high intensity training can induce mitochondrial biogenesis - i.e. grow new ones.

This new study indicates that the heat generated by exercise in muscles could be responsible for generating new mitochondria.  


Mild heat stress induces mitochondrial biogenesis in C2C12 myotubes

During endurance exercise, most (≈75%) of the energy derived from the oxidation of metabolic fuels and ATP hydrolysis of muscle contraction is liberated as heat, the accumulation of which leads to an increase in body temperature. For example, the temperature of exercising muscles can rise to 40°C. Although severe heat injury can be deleterious, several beneficial effects of mild heat stress (HS), such as the improvement of insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes, have been reported. However, among all cellular events induced by mild HS from physical activities, the direct effects and mechanisms of mild HS on mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle are least characterized. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) are key energy-sensing molecules regulating mitochondrial biogenesis. In C2C12 myotubes, we found that 1 h mild HS at 40°C upregulated both AMPK activity and SIRT1 expression, as well as increased the expression of several mitochondrial biogenesis regulatory genes including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and transcription factors involved in mitochondrial biogenesis. In particular, PGC-1α expression was found to be transcriptionally regulated by mild HS. Additionally, after repeated mild HS for 5 days, protein levels of PGC-1α and several mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation subunits were also upregulated. Repeated mild HS also significantly increased mitochondrial DNA copy number. In conclusion, these data show that mild HS is sufficient to induce mitochondrial biogenesis in C2C12 myotubes. Temperature-induced mitochondrial biogenesis correlates with activation of the AMPK-SIRT1-PGC-1α pathway. Therefore, it is possible that muscle heat production during exercise plays a role in mitochondrial biogenesis.

Hillfit Manifesto

I've added a new page to the Hillfit Website - the Hillfit Manifesto.  The aim is to explain what it is all about, to summarise the drive behind the book.

Check it out and let me know what you think

Bad social experiences promote inflammation

This is fascinating - the impact of stress from competitors and general social interactions can promote inflammation.


Negative and competitive social interactions are related to heightened proinflammatory cytokine activity

These findings suggest that daily social interactions that are negative and competitive are associated prospectively with heightened proinflammatory cytokine activity.

It is all about environment.....but that is not just diet,  social interactions, other stresses are important too.  Getting your stress under control - work, relationships etc - is as vital as diet.  You can get diet and exercise dialed in but if you are chronically stressed from other things then you will still suffer. 

I am like this at the moment from work and family pressures

There is a good commentary here.

Stability and Mobility for natural running

Excellent stuff from the Natural Running Centre

Lots of good stuff here on posture, gait, mobility and stability



thanks to Jim Hansen for pointing this out

You have a brain so you can move

This came via a very good post from Marc Keys. He talks about skill development.  As we have said before strength is one thing, skill development is another.  Get strong and then apply it to your chosen skill, something I talk about in Hillfit

Natural Messiah had a great discussion of this video a few months ago

Exercise is good for older brains

Continuing the theme of keeping older brains healthy....I've had stuff before on how exercise increases insulin sensitivity (which we saw was a good thing) and how resistance training benefits older people.  Now this study which sees better brain performance in the elderly following intense exercise.

Acute moderate exercise enhances compensatory brain activation in older adults.

Insulin Resistance and brain health

Watching my Dad's dementia, brain health is becoming a real interest.  Here is a study which shows that reduced insulin sensitivity is linked to smaller brain size and deteriorated language skills in the elderly. 

"We found that in elderly whose insulin sensitivity was still high, the brains were larger, and they had more grey matter in regions that are important for language skills, compared with those who had diminished insulin sensitivity. We also observed that higher insulin sensitivity was associated with better scores on the language test. Our findings offer a possible explanation for why methods that improve insulin sensitivity, such as exercise, are promising strategies for counteracting cognitive aging late in life," says Christian Benedict.

Of course insulin resistance is complex - not just about eating too many carbs - and Stephan's series is a great outline of the issues.  Again, environment, genetics, gut flora are all kicking around but a real food diet, rest, exercise and reducing stress all help keep you sensitive to insulin.

Epigenetics again

At the moment everything seems to be about  epigenetics, mitochnodria or the microbiome.

Here is one about epigenetics - turning genes on or off:

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified nearly 200 genes in the healthy prostate tissue of men with low-grade prostate cancer that may help explain how physical activity improves survival from the disease.

Vigorous exercise linked to gene activity in prostate

Less Stuff.....

Grip Work

Massage post exercise reduces inflammation, builds mitochondria

I've mentioned before that I get a regular session of bodywork from my pal Colin at Edinburgh Deep Tissue Massage.  I enjoy the chat, he sorts out any strains or spasms that are going on and he also gives me some good coaching in general on posture, movement and exercise.

It seems that there are real clinic benefits to all this too.  I spotted this report of a new study on massage which explains :

While massage is well accepted as a therapy for relieving muscle tension and pain, the researchers delved deeper to find it also triggers biochemical sensors that can send inflammation-reducing signals to muscle cells.

In addition, massage signals muscle to build more mitochondria, the power centres of cells which play an important role in healing.

"The main thing, and what is novel about our study, is that no one has ever looked inside the muscle to see what is happening with massage, no one looked at the biochemical effects or what might be going on in the muscle itself," said Crane.

"We have shown the muscle senses that it is being stretched and this appears to reduce the cells' inflammatory response," he said. "As a consequence, massage may be beneficial for recovery from injury."

Really interesting stuff - cellular effects from massage which extend to generating more mitochondria.

As ever of course, Alex at Sweat Science got here first and has a much more detailed analysis of the research.

Cosmetics and Chemicals

This was interesting


Created by: Cosmetology School

Curing ITB pain

a nice technique....from Martha Peterson