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b2d: a blog about (1) trying to understand how we work, in terms of health, fitness and well-being (2) sharing that understanding (3) trying to figure out or review research and best practice to optimize and operationalize (ie make it work) that practice for us.
mc
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- January 24, 2010
- 01:16 PM
- 711 views
HIIT (on bikes) - why it results in both more fat reduction, and Spot Fat Reduction at That, too than Hearty Steady State
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
HIIT means high intensity interval protocol. But what is the best HIIT to do if you're tuning it for fat lost first, and anything else second? And does it make a difference if you're dealing with elite athletes or people who are just well enough conditioned so their hearts won't explode if you ask them to go "really hard" for a bit? Is it 60 secs on? 30 off? 60:60? The infamous tabatta on for 20 off for 10 - and remember that was not primarily a fat burning study but an anaerobic/aerobic capacity study.... Read more »
Trapp, E., Chisholm, D., Freund, J., & Boutcher, S. (2008) The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women. International Journal of Obesity, 32(4), 684-691. DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803781
GORMLEY, S., SWAIN, D., HIGH, R., SPINA, R., DOWLING, E., KOTIPALLI, U., & GANDRAKOTA, R. (2008) Effect of Intensity of Aerobic Training on V??O2max. Medicine , 40(7), 1336-1343. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31816c4839
Trapp, E., Chisholm, D., & Boutcher, S. (2007) Metabolic response of trained and untrained women during high-intensity intermittent cycle exercise. AJP: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 293(6). DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00780.2006
- August 12, 2010
- 10:21 AM
- 697 views
The Eyes Have It - sometimes: using eye position to enhance strength
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
I was fascinated by Geoff Neupert's article in the latest Power by Pavel Newsletter (issue 209, 08/09/10) about his experience using eye position in the press. Geoff is the author of Kettlebell Muscle. Absolutely awesome to see eye position highlighted in relation to how that action can support movement practice. That support is rather dependent on where and how in a compound move it's being used, and also what else may be happening in our somato-sensory systems. So let's look at eye position and postural reflexes and how they support muscle action a little more.
Geoff writes:
For the last four years, until recently, I promoted a neutral head, eyes down posture for presses and jerks, thinking that this would increase flexion at the shoulder and therefore increase shoulder mobility and allow for the weight to go up easier.
Geoff reports that this didn't work for him. When we understand the roll of vision in position, that result is not surprising, so we'll come onto why. He then proposes a revised move with a different head, jaw and eye position: the neck back a bit, chin up a bit and eyes slightly up.
Geoff says of this approach:
I then corroborated my findings with what the absolute best in the world do, confirmed my position, applied my "new" techniques, and started making progress once again. This is excellent: Geoff tested the move to see if it worked better for him, today. Testing a technique is critical as adaptation is pretty individual; testing that neutral head / eyes down thing sooner might have been a good idea too for addressing four years of press frustration.
For more ideas on how to train these eye muscles,
see Eye Heatlh: How Fast can you switch focus?
Test Early; Test Often The key thing to me in this article is that Geoff did "test" his new approach: did it improve his press? he says so an i believe him. Yet while he proposes a new technique for his press, and has some interesting theory to support it, whether or not that approach will be universally successful may be as likely as eyes down through the lift was successful for Geoff. May be. Dunno, maybe.
The take away from this story, at least for me, is less about a new technique that will work for everyone and more about: test it, because what works for you mayn't work for me, or for you later today, no matter how well we hypothesize why something works after the fact.
Let me step back a bit and say here's why i'm not surprised by GN reporting that eyes looking down *through the whole press* would likely/potentially not be a good idea: there's more going on than shoulder flexion in the press.
Eye Position and Reflexes when Reflexes work. Let me back up even further and say that the eyes are tied to reflexes that support extension, flexion, adduction, abduction, rotation. By reflex we mean involuntary automatic and near immediate response to a stimulus. Intriguingly, sometimes these reflexive responses can get buggered up, (and with the eyes, have particular effects on posture, among other things) but more on that anon.
When things are working right, we see looking down triggers flexion, looking up triggers extension looking in one direction triggers complementary adduction/abduction/rotation in the direction viewed.
Eye position is then used to complement/strengthen what can most benefit from that reflex. That may change throughout a lift. And what if while one thing is extending something else is flexing? What do we need help with the most? We'll look at an example to try in a sec.
Strengthening what needs to be strengthened throughout a lift
As an example of how eye position might change in a lift, let's take a look at the example from Geoff's article, the kettlebell press. The press is a rich movement: one may need eyes down to support shoulder flexion at the beginning of the lift coming out of the rack, then eyes towards the horizon and looking at the bell when the delts are at the weakest point, so strengthening rotator cuff movements, and post sticking point, eyes up to support the triceps extending (thanks to conversations last year with Zachariah Salazar Z-Health Master Trainer and RKC on these multiple positions in the press). In Pavel's pressing, as RKC Ken Froese pointed out to me, his eyes seem to follow the bell throughout, which may be great for someone with even strength, but not for someone with say a shoulder issue.
So keeping eyes down throughout the movement may be less productive for some people if where the weak link in the move shifts, and changing eye position will enhance that.
Try this at Home: A chin up (hands supinated) uses extension of the shoulder/lats firing, but it also uses elbow flexion (biceps coming into a curl). So what needs more help for you in a chin? Best way to find out: test either/or positions, depending if one's weaker link is shoulder extension/lats (eyes up) or biceps flexing (eyes down). Try both: what works better for you -when? Which is which may change as training progresses, or for just about any other reason, as we'll see below.
When reflexes seemingly aren't firing normally
Why would a doctor whack a knee if a reflex always fired as it was supposed to? We wouldn't need to test something that always works one way. Same thing with eye responses as demonstrated in what are referred to as postural reflexes, richly informed by the visual (and vestibular and proprioceptive) system(s):
Visual and vestibular input, as well as joint and soft tissue mechanoreceptors, are major players in the regulation of static upright posture. Each of these input sources detects and responds to specific types of postural stimulus and perturbations, and each region has specific pathways by which it communicates with other postural reflexes, as well as higher central nervous system structures.There's even work to suggest that blinking or performing visual sacades may improve postural stability.
Sometimes due to trauma or sometimes a long flight and jet lag, one's postural reflexes get really muted or actually cause the inverse effect reflexively in the body. There are tests for this (if you visit with a z-health certified coach who's done i-phase, for instance, they'll know these position/vision tests). The important thing to get is that our muscular responses - things as seemingly simple and immutable as flexion and extension - are intertwined with the somato-sensory system (visual, vestibular and proprioceptive function), and that these intertwined systems are constantly dealing with various stimuli. As Reiman and Lephart found in 2002:
Motor control for even simple tasks is a plastic process that undergoes constant review and modification based upon the integration and analysis of sensory input, efferent motor
commands, and resultant movements.We occaisionally really get how intertwined these actions are if we ever have an inner ear infection, or find ourselves experiencing sea sickness or dizziness.
Obviously, if one's visual responses to a direction are screwed up (say looking down doesn't strengthen your bicep curl, or cue an appropriate postural reflex), then using your eyes in a movement in that direction is also likely not going to help - in some cases it may seem to work against you if your body doesn't like that eye position, performance is going to suffer - until the thing gets fixed... Read more »
Morningstar, M., Pettibon, B., Schlappi, H., Schlappi, M., & Ireland, T. (2005) Reflex control of the spine and posture: a review of the literature from a chiropractic perspective. Chiropractic , 13(1), 16. DOI: 10.1186/1746-1340-13-16
Riemann BL, & Lephart SM. (2002) The Sensorimotor System, Part II: The Role of Proprioception in Motor Control and Functional Joint Stability. Journal of athletic training, 37(1), 80-4. PMID: 16558671
Rougier P, & Garin M. (2007) Performing saccadic eye movements or blinking improves postural control. Motor control, 11(3), 213-23. PMID: 17715456
- October 3, 2009
- 04:09 PM
- 691 views
Nutrient timing *may* make difference - for strength, body comp, muscle fiber...
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
ResearchBlogging.orgCould changing when you have a recovery drink have a significant effect on strength, body comp and other performance factors? It may be that simple. If you like your workout routine, but want it to produce better results, you may find that changing one thing has a not insignificant effect. There seems to be significant benefit to strength, muscle fiber, body composition and muscle glycogen uptake based simply on when nutrients are taken around a workout. Likewise this nutrient timing requires no other change to one's diet to have this effect.... Read more »
CRIBB, P., & HAYES, A. (2006) Effects of Supplement Timing and Resistance Exercise on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy. Medicine , 38(11), 1918-1925. DOI: 10.1249/01.mss.0000233790.08788.3e
- February 16, 2010
- 12:20 PM
- 677 views
Barefoot Running - even more vid analysis sources
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
Some of us have been just waiting for the moment when barefooting or vff'ing would make it through to the mainstream. THis seems to have happened recently on the cover of nature, with DE Lieberman's research in praise of the unshod. The formal article title is "Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners" ... Read more »
Lieberman, D., Venkadesan, M., Werbel, W., Daoud, A., D’Andrea, S., Davis, I., Mang’Eni, R., & Pitsiladis, Y. (2010) Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature, 463(7280), 531-535. DOI: 10.1038/nature08723
- January 6, 2010
- 11:17 AM
- 655 views
Running Shoes as Single Factor Thinking
by MC in begin to dig (b2d)
This is a post about Shoes not as evil, but as it seems a Great Feat of Misdirection. It's a wee bit about our biases towards single factor solutions for complex problems, and the arguments we will have around the Chosen Factor rather than pulling up and back to consider the wider view. In science, there's a strong bias towards studying the effect of a single factor in various circumstances, but you'll rarely find a scientist who will say that single factor study or finding is The Solution - as we'll see below. That's down usually to the media who tries to promote such results, or companies that like the sound of same.... Read more »
Kerrigan, D., Franz, J., Keenan, G., Dicharry, J., Della Croce, U., & Wilder, R. (2009) The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques. PM, 1(12), 1058-1063. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmrj.2009.09.011
Knapik JJ, Swedler DI, Grier TL, Hauret KG, Bullock SH, Williams KW, Darakjy SS, Lester ME, Tobler SK, & Jones BH. (2009) Injury reduction effectiveness of selecting running shoes based on plantar shape. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength , 23(3), 685-97. PMID: 19387413
- July 23, 2009
- 06:53 PM
- 655 views
Smart SMALL Dosing of Caffeine can be Super Performance Booster
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
ResearchBlogging.orgThere is a FABULOUS survey article on caffeine use in sports performance from May 2009. Big Take away: caffeine, yes, does have a performance enhancement effect on a whole lot of stuff BUT there are also down sides. BUT BUT it seems that dose and timing have an effect PLUS small doses are JUST AS effective as larger ones. isn't that frickin' cool?... Read more »
Sökmen B, Armstrong LE, Kraemer WJ, Casa DJ, Dias JC, Judelson DA, & Maresh CM. (2008) Caffeine use in sports: considerations for the athlete. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength , 22(3), 978-86. PMID: 18438212
- February 14, 2010
- 10:06 AM
- 607 views
Hypoxia for Muscle Growth: Get Huge or Die?
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
A recently accepted paper shows that working in an oxygen deprived environment can gosh darn it, build muscle when doing resistance work. WHile jokes might start about the variety of ways that one could replicate a near-asphyxiated space - from smoking to putting a plastic bag (with some holes) over one's head - i'm thinking that in the case of resistance training (as opposed to altitude/endurance where there's a definite blood/muscle adaptation), based on the findings, we're maybe seeing predictably heightened threat response brought on by 02 deprivation.... Read more »
Kon, M., Ikeda, T., Homma, T., Akimoto, T., Suzuki, Y., & Kawahara, T. (2009) Effects of Acute Hypoxia on Metabolic and Hormonal Responses to Resistance Exercise. Medicine , 1. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181ce61a5
- July 31, 2009
- 01:25 PM
- 546 views
Fitness in 6 minutes of effort *a week* or Less? What does that mean? (Part I)
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
If in a training session, we can hurl ourselves into short blasts of all out effort (without hurling), we may just be able to get ourselves fit in 6 (to 9) mins of effort a week. Fit, to the same level and kind of strength capacity if we were doing 2-3 hours traditional endurance work/week. While this sounds cool, what does 6 mins of fitness give us, especially, relative to any body comp and strength desires? This is part one of a two part article. Part I (what you're reading now): research review. Part II: plain language take aways form the research.... Read more »
Burgomaster, K., Howarth, K., Phillips, S., Rakobowchuk, M., MacDonald, M., McGee, S., & Gibala, M. (2007) Similar metabolic adaptations during exercise after low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance training in humans. The Journal of Physiology, 586(1), 151-160. DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2007.142109
- June 8, 2011
- 11:41 AM
- 514 views
Fat Tea: like guiness but tea (Including a descant on fat types like coconut oil)
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
There's an old saw about Guiness - it's the beer that drinks like a meal. That can certainly be true. But if one's passion is less for beer, and say, more towards tea, and let's also say we're keen to get our protein and fats in, and also want to enhance our satiety, and maybe improve our energy expenditure, i may have a drink for you. To the best of my knowledge, i think i've concocted this, and call it Fat Tea.
Fat Tea consists of
The makings of Fat Tea: black tea, organic
whole milk, ginger and organic coconut oil
steeped Yorkshire Gold Tea (i really enjoy the taste of this bagged UK tea)
Whole Organic Milk (from happy cows - where i live that's usually a brand called Duchy) to taste 1-2 oz.
Fresh Ginger (steeped with tea to taste)
- le piéce de resistance - Organic Coconut Oil (like a gram or so per cup or mug of tea) - in the uk i get coconoil by mail order.
Oh wow, that's intensely satisfying: protein, fat, very low carbs, a bit of caffeine and other good things associated with tea.
But wait, you may be saying, isn't Fat tea, well, rather fat?
Let's see: 2 grams of cocunut oil is 18kcals of medium chain triglycerides. 2 ozs (i like a lot of milk in my tea) of whole milk is 37.5kcals, so yup, total cals are 55.5. Compared with black tea on its own (zero kcals) or with two ozs of skim milk (21.5kcals) or two oz's of 2% (31.25) - well ya, there's more fat, so sure; more calories than black tea.
The Skinny on Fat Tea Fats
So let's talk about the Fat for a sec, the coconut oil fat and the whole milk fat, and why you may want to choose these 56kcals in happy fat tea once a day (i like mine in the evening), rather than say a cookie or some starchy carby thing.
Fat Profile - reminder: fat is good.
Fat is Amazing and Good - not evil. We need fat; it's our primary source of fuel for our bodies (i've written about this before), and it serves a TON of roles in our bodies - not just for fuel, but as the wrappers of EACH AND EVERY cell in our bodies. It's the insulation on the white matter of our brains; it's the wrapping of our viscera; it's the mylenation that suports our nervous system learning; it's building blocks for hormones we need to function well.
And on top of all this, it is the primary energy system for our bodies. I read a page awhile ago that said that fat is a back up energy system when we run out of blood sugar. That's really misleading. That sounds like blood sugar is our primary fuel. Nope. It's not. Fat is our primary fuel. You sitting reading this on the couch: you're oxidising PRIMARILY fat. We'll talk about glucose some other day. Main thing: FAT is good - there are - like proteins - essential fats too (you know, the omega's).
If you're doing Dairy, Whole Milk Can be Fun
On a pure taste level, a whole fat milk is generally sweeter (it's the milk sugars in the lactose, as i understand it). The texture is also creamier. That's all from the Fat.
Fat Variety in Milk
There are all sorts of fats that we need in our diet. Milk has an intriguing range of fats, including saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated - and a mix of short and long chain fats, too. And milk has about one of the only instances of a type of trans fat, CLA, that's good for us. Transfats are generally considered evil (like margarine), but CLA in milk fats is a keeper. So it's not a bad place to get some of the fats we want. Including (in organic sources especially) Omerga 3's and the very currently trendy ALA (alpha lipoic acid - popular as a fat burner ingredient). Grass feed = apparently good for Omega 3 upping.
Indeed, organic milk is one of the most studied organic products on the planet, apparently, and studies seem to keep showing that organic milk does better with omega 3s overall than non-organic - up to 67% more omega 3's. This result has been found in several studies in the UK over several years now (Ellis 06, Butler 11)
Organic Note In the UK, organic also means lots of grass feeding and free ranging. It also means no crap (here's a listing).
More Fat types
As we've seen above, milk has a mix of fat types, saturated being about 2/3s of the fat profile of milk. But is that in and of itself a problem? Well, those cell walls of each cell in our body? They're largely made up of saturated fat. So we need saturated fats for dietary, cellular, hormonal, everything'ish function. SO why are we constantly told to get the saturated fats out of our diet? Sometimes it's easier to try the Big Hammer approach then deal with subtlety and complexity of the subtly and complexity that is Us.
And as we'll see shortly, the biggies in all of these "must nots" are RATIOS and balance. As i've said repeatedly at b2d, we're complex systems. Single factor thinking like"kill all fat" or "kill this type of fat" or "eliminate fat" - is not an answer. Balance balance balance. Balance.
Indeed, in the saturated fats of milk, are these short chain fatty acids. They're apparently anti-microbial; they stimulate some of the same pathways that the vitamin B part that's niacin does, so may help on the HDL front, too. This doesn't mean O.D. on saturated fats; but it does mean there is a role for them. WHich brings us to the other fat in Fat Tea
Coconut Oil
I am so late to the Coconut Oil party (overview of coconut oil here). Coconut oil has been getting a big nod because it's a Medium Chain Triglyceride saturated fat, and that's actually supposed to be a good way to help burn fat (and more). The idea of the chain length is that the short chain means the fat can be metabolized (converted into fuel) faster/easier, which means it's not getting deposited into adipose tissue and potentially increases satiety. One of the key early articles in this space by St Ong and Jones from 2003 is available free online, too (Ong03); St-Ong and Bosarage did a longer study in 2008 and showed again that MCTs, while not a miracle fat burner, contributed to energy expenditure and body comp improvements more so than olive oil in the same amounts (Ong08).
An excellent research review from 2010 by Clegg covers both the advantages and some of the challenges of using MCT's for fat burning. Seems the main studies have been with normal weight rather than obese folks, too, and there are gender effects.
In an interesting study sited by Clegg from 2001, Van Wymelbeke and colleagues found that satiety - the feeling of fullness was improved in the meal AFTER the one where MCTs were eaten.
All that sounds great, doesn't it? And you'll find camps that will say all vegetable oils are evil and should be replaced by butter or coconut oil, or in third place, olive oil (see the Perfect Health Diet as an reference-rich example).
THere are others - some key folks in the American Dietetic Association - who go the other way, and say vegetable oils rock; coconut oil is problematic. We want only PUFAs (polyunsaturated fats) not SaFA (saturated fats) (overview of debate by Zelman 2011).
Tempest in a Tea Pot
I saw one study that looked at replacing dairy with just coconut oil (Choo10) to make a new ice cream. So if you don't care for doing dairy for whatever reason, you may want to try Fat Tea with only coconu... Read more »
Butler G, Stergiadis S, Seal C, Eyre M, & Leifert C. (2011) Fat composition of organic and conventional retail milk in northeast England. Journal of dairy science, 94(1), 24-36. PMID: 21183013
Clegg ME. (2010) Medium-chain triglycerides are advantageous in promoting weight loss although not beneficial to exercise performance. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 61(7), 653-79. PMID: 20367215
Choo SY, Leong SK, & Henna Lu FS. (2010) Physicochemical and sensory properties of ice-cream formulated with virgin coconut oil. Food science and technology international , 16(6), 531-41. PMID: 21339169
Ellis KA, Innocent G, Grove-White D, Cripps P, McLean WG, Howard CV, & Mihm M. (2006) Comparing the fatty acid composition of organic and conventional milk. Journal of dairy science, 89(6), 1938-50. PMID: 16702257
St-Onge MP, Ross R, Parsons WD, & Jones PJ. (2003) Medium-chain triglycerides increase energy expenditure and decrease adiposity in overweight men. Obesity research, 11(3), 395-402. PMID: 12634436
Marie-Pierre St-Onge and Aubrey Bosarge. (2008) Weight-loss diet that includes consumption of medium-chain triacylglycerol oil leads to a greater rate of weight and fat mass loss than does olive oil. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(3), 621-626. info:other/NIHMS201761
Van Wymelbeke V, Louis-Sylvestre J, & Fantino M. (2001) Substrate oxidation and control of food intake in men after a fat-substitute meal compared with meals supplemented with an isoenergetic load of carbohydrate, long-chain triacylglycerols, or medium-chain triacylglycerols. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 74(5), 620-30. PMID: 11684530
Zelman K. (2011) The great fat debate: a closer look at the controversy-questioning the validity of age-old dietary guidance. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(5), 655-8. PMID: 21515106
- June 8, 2011
- 04:41 PM
- 510 views
Fat Tea: like guiness but tea (Including a descant on fat types like coconut oil)
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
There's an old saw about Guiness - it's the beer that drinks like a meal. If one's passion is more towards tea, and we're keen to get our protein and fats in, and also want to enhance our satiety, and maybe improve our energy expenditure, i may have a drink for you: Fat Tea, with some research on why Fat is Good... Read more »
Butler G, Stergiadis S, Seal C, Eyre M, & Leifert C. (2011) Fat composition of organic and conventional retail milk in northeast England. Journal of dairy science, 94(1), 24-36. PMID: 21183013
Clegg ME. (2010) Medium-chain triglycerides are advantageous in promoting weight loss although not beneficial to exercise performance. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 61(7), 653-79. PMID: 20367215
Choo SY, Leong SK, & Henna Lu FS. (2010) Physicochemical and sensory properties of ice-cream formulated with virgin coconut oil. Food science and technology international , 16(6), 531-41. PMID: 21339169
Ellis KA, Innocent G, Grove-White D, Cripps P, McLean WG, Howard CV, & Mihm M. (2006) Comparing the fatty acid composition of organic and conventional milk. Journal of dairy science, 89(6), 1938-50. PMID: 16702257
St-Onge MP, Ross R, Parsons WD, & Jones PJ. (2003) Medium-chain triglycerides increase energy expenditure and decrease adiposity in overweight men. Obesity research, 11(3), 395-402. PMID: 12634436
Marie-Pierre St-Onge and Aubrey Bosarge. (2008) Weight-loss diet that includes consumption of medium-chain triacylglycerol oil leads to a greater rate of weight and fat mass loss than does olive oil. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(3), 621-626. info:other/NIHMS201761
Van Wymelbeke V, Louis-Sylvestre J, & Fantino M. (2001) Substrate oxidation and control of food intake in men after a fat-substitute meal compared with meals supplemented with an isoenergetic load of carbohydrate, long-chain triacylglycerols, or medium-chain triacylglycerols. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 74(5), 620-30. PMID: 11684530
Zelman K. (2011) The great fat debate: a closer look at the controversy-questioning the validity of age-old dietary guidance. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(5), 655-8. PMID: 21515106
- July 22, 2012
- 07:48 PM
- 355 views
Getting leaner with Brown Fat, Thermogenisis and Chilli Sauce?
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
Is hot sauce hot enough to burn fat? Maybe - if we have "active" brown fat.
A lot of us look for ways to boost fat burning or to stop fat from being created in the first place on our quest for getting lean and staying lean. Alpha lipoic acid from 800mg [1] to 1800mg a day [2], alpha lipoic acid with CoQ10 even [3] looks at interrupting fat creation. Then there's thermogenisis, getting some heat up in the system to burn fat mobilized for use as energy. There are a number of foods and supplements that seem to contribute to thermogenisis, and chilli sauce - or the stuff that makes chilli sauce - may be one of those. The degree to which it may work, however, seems correlated to how well we might burn fuel when we're cold. ... Read more »
Carbonelli MG, Di Renzo L, Bigioni M, Di Daniele N, De Lorenzo A, & Fusco MA. (2010) Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation: a tool for obesity therapy?. Current pharmaceutical design, 16(7), 840-6. PMID: 20388095
Wagner AE, Ernst IM, Birringer M, Sancak O, Barella L, & Rimbach G. (2012) A Combination of Lipoic Acid Plus Coenzyme Q10 Induces PGC1α, a Master Switch of Energy Metabolism, Improves Stress Response, and Increases Cellular Glutathione Levels in Cultured C2C12 Skeletal Muscle Cells. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 835970. PMID: 22655115
Koh EH, Lee WJ, Lee SA, Kim EH, Cho EH, Jeong E, Kim DW, Kim MS, Park JY, Park KG.... (2011) Effects of alpha-lipoic Acid on body weight in obese subjects. The American journal of medicine, 124(1), 850-8. PMID: 21187189
Snitker S, Fujishima Y, Shen H, Ott S, Pi-Sunyer X, Furuhata Y, Sato H, & Takahashi M. (2009) Effects of novel capsinoid treatment on fatness and energy metabolism in humans: possible pharmacogenetic implications. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 89(1), 45-50. PMID: 19056576
Galgani JE, Ryan DH, & Ravussin E. (2010) Effect of capsinoids on energy metabolism in human subjects. The British journal of nutrition, 103(1), 38-42. PMID: 19671203
Yoneshiro T, Aita S, Kawai Y, Iwanaga T, & Saito M. (2012) Nonpungent capsaicin analogs (capsinoids) increase energy expenditure through the activation of brown adipose tissue in humans. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 95(4), 845-50. PMID: 22378725
Ouellet V, Labbé SM, Blondin DP, Phoenix S, Guérin B, Haman F, Turcotte EE, Richard D, & Carpentier AC. (2012) Brown adipose tissue oxidative metabolism contributes to energy expenditure during acute cold exposure in humans. The Journal of clinical investigation, 122(2), 545-52. PMID: 22269323
Yoneshiro T, Aita S, Matsushita M, Kameya T, Nakada K, Kawai Y, & Saito M. (2011) Brown adipose tissue, whole-body energy expenditure, and thermogenesis in healthy adult men. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.), 19(1), 13-6. PMID: 20448535
Cao L, Choi EY, Liu X, Martin A, Wang C, Xu X, & During MJ. (2011) White to brown fat phenotypic switch induced by genetic and environmental activation of a hypothalamic-adipocyte axis. Cell metabolism, 14(3), 324-38. PMID: 21907139
- January 11, 2010
- 04:08 PM
- 310 views
Not Time of Day for Training but Location Location Location
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
ResearchBlogging.orgThe question of time of day for training has been asked often. Better to train at night? better to train in the morning? Better for anaerobic? better for aerobic?
Indeed, one of my fave current studies has shown that the circadian clock is threaded right into the muscles - at least of mice... Read more »
Zhang, X., Dube, T., & Esser, K. (2009) Working around the clock: circadian rhythms and skeletal muscle. Journal of Applied Physiology, 107(5), 1647-1654. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00725.2009
Blonc S, Perrot S, Racinais S, Aussepe S, & Hue O. (2010) Effects of 5 weeks of training at the same time of day on the diurnal variations of maximal muscle power performance. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength , 24(1), 23-9. PMID: 19966592
- April 22, 2013
- 07:09 PM
- 52 views
Focus on Manual Skill or Action to Restore Slightly Shredded Soul
by m.c. in begin to dig (b2d)
This is the unexpected story of working to find a path to restore some shredded soul, not through power lifting masses of weights, or sprinting all out till wiped out, but through Sharpening knives, grinding coffee beans - both by hand - making espresso on the stove, latte art - all manual, all small tasks, small skill focus, all about practice of motor learning or just small motor actions as a quest to reduce stress right now.
Often, working out sits in this place, but i feel a little too drained right now for that, except for light runs. Seems there may be a reason - or at least a good thing happening - neurologically - in finding practices that focus, soothe and restore.... Read more »
Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., Schuierer, G., Bogdahn, U., & May, A. (2004) Neuroplasticity: Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427(6972), 311-312. DOI: 10.1038/427311a
Draganski, B. (2006) Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Brain Structure Changes during Extensive Learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 26(23), 6314-6317. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4628-05.2006
Holzel, B., Carmody, J., Evans, K., Hoge, E., Dusek, J., Morgan, L., Pitman, R., & Lazar, S. (2009) Stress reduction correlates with structural changes in the amygdala. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(1), 11-17. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsp034
- May 2, 2013
- 07:51 AM
- 26 views
M'eye New Workout Reset: eye work as active recovery
by mc in begin to dig (b2d)
hypothesis: Use of recovery periods between weight sets can be used for vision work as form of active recovery to improve strength, vision and recovery technique. ... Read more »
Andersson H, Raastad T, Nilsson J, Paulsen G, Garthe I, & Kadi F. (2008) Neuromuscular fatigue and recovery in elite female soccer: effects of active recovery. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 40(2), 372-80. PMID: 18202563
Davis WJ, Wood DT, Andrews RG, Elkind LM, & Davis WB. (2008) Elimination of delayed-onset muscle soreness by pre-resistance cardioacceleration before each set. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength , 22(1), 212-25. PMID: 18296978
Micklewright, D., Beneke, R., Gladwell, V., & Sellens, M. (2003) BLOOD LACTATE REMOVAL USING COMBINED MASSAGE AND ACTIVE RECOVERY. Medicine , 35(Supplement 1). DOI: 10.1097/00005768-200305001-01755
Suzuki M, Umeda T, Nakaji S, Shimoyama T, Mashiko T, & Sugawara K. (2004) Effect of incorporating low intensity exercise into the recovery period after a rugby match. British journal of sports medicine, 38(4), 436-40. PMID: 15273179
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