Fitness Friday - Fitness News and Information You Can Use

It's time for another Fitness Friday. We start off with two articles from Chad Waterbury (partly as a promotion for his new book), one from his own blog and one from Eric Cressesy's sight. After that we have an article on running from T-Nation. Finally, a nutrition article on the Western diet and its impact on the immune system, then two articles debunking the health risks associated with testosterone replacement therapty (good news for men on T replacement).

Full-Body Training for Mass Rules

Chad Waterbury

 

The best trigger for muscle growth across your entire body is a full-body workout. The combination of an upper-body pull, push and squat/deadlift/lunge is a powerful stimulus to upregulate the anabolic hormones and ramp up protein synthesis.

I’ve written extensively about full-body training over the years, and I keep experimenting with ways to make it better. Here’s what I’ve learned over the years that you can do to make full-body training your go-to strategy for fast muscle gains....

* * * * *

What Cirque du Soleil Can Teach You About How to Build Muscle

Written by Chad Waterbury on June 28, 2014 | by Eric Cressey

I'm in Chicago to speak at the Perform Better Summit this weekend, but fortunately, my good friend Chad Waterbury provided this guest post for today. Enjoy! -EC

In 2001, I went with a buddy to Vegas. I wish I could say the trip was replete with all the temptations that Sin City had to offer, but it was strictly business.

At the time, I had a packed personal training calendar that kept me busy from dawn to dusk. Most of my clients were guys that wanted to build muscle, so I had them do a combination of heavy and high-rep training to failure.

That’s how bodybuilding protocols worked back then, and most of them still do today. I made my clients work hard and they trained each major muscle group about twice per week.

Now this is where my Vegas trip comes in.

That year I went to see the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere. Many of my clients had seen the popular show and they mentioned that I should make a point to attend, mainly because of two heavily-muscled gymnastics that display mind-blowing feats of strength: the Alexis Brothers.

* * * * *

Running Doesn't Suck

by Max Shank   
07/01/14

Here's what you need to know...

• The anti-running movement has gone too far when it says that running is stupid or that it will eat up all of your muscle.
• The weight-lifter-who-moves-like-garbage and bashes running is becoming a tiresome cliché.
• Short distances like 10-40 meters, 40 to 100 meters, and 100 to 800 meters, in addition to hill sprints and shuttle runs, all have varying benefits ranging from increases in GH and Testosterone to increases in leg strength, coordination, and bone and soft tissue integrity.
• If the endurance nutballs would start doing repeats of 400-800 meters at high effort, they might forget what a thruster is.

The fact that there's been a revolt against "jogging" as a fitness modality is terrific and I'm happy we're moving more towards the center. However, one thing that's gone too far is this whole idea of how running is stupid, or will somehow eat up all of your muscle. I've even heard trainers tell people that running is the worst thing you can do to stay in shape.

Now I'm all for the execution of "jogging" in general, but to make a blanket statement that all running is worthless is extreme. Running sucks? Really? Seriously? Humans are literally built for running. As far as the hierarchy of things you need to do for survival, running is right smack dab at the top of the list, next to keeping your heart beating at all times. Frankly, the weight-lifter-who-moves-like-garbage and bashes running is becoming a tiresome cliché.

Running offers several benefits including, but not limited to:

• Increase in growth hormone and Testosterone production
• Increase in leg strength
• Increase in coordination
• Increase in bone and soft tissue integrity
• Prevention of injuries

Now when I advocate that you run, it's not for 26 miles, but for varying distances up to 800 meters at a time. Here's a short list of the different modalities I use and their benefits....

* * * * *

Next up we have two nutrition/supplement studies. One looks at the impact of the Western diet on the immune system, the other is a new testosterone study that fails to confirm a study from earlier this year that suggested testosterone replacement cause cardiac damage.

Fast food fever: reviewing the impacts of the Western diet on immunity

Ian A Myles

Nutrition Journal; 2014, 13:61 doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-13-61

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Abstract

While numerous changes in human lifestyle constitute modern life, our diet has been gaining attention as a potential contributor to the increase in immune-mediated diseases. The Western diet is characterized by an over consumption and reduced variety of refined sugars, salt, and saturated fat. Herein our objective is to detail the mechanisms for the Western diet’s impact on immune function. The manuscript reviews the impacts and mechanisms of harm for our over-indulgence in sugar, salt, and fat, as well as the data outlining the impacts of artificial sweeteners, gluten, and genetically modified foods; attention is given to revealing where the literature on the immune impacts of macronutrients is limited to either animal or in vitro models versus where human trials exist. Detailed attention is given to the dietary impact on the gut microbiome and the mechanisms by which our poor dietary choices are encoded into our gut, our genes, and are passed to our offspring. While today’s modern diet may provide beneficial protection from micro- and macronutrient deficiencies, our over abundance of calories and the macronutrients that compose our diet may all lead to increased inflammation, reduced control of infection, increased rates of cancer, and increased risk for allergic and auto-inflammatory disease. 

* * * * *

Latest Testosterone Study Finds No Heart Attack Risk

Nancy A. Melville
July 03, 2014

In the latest addition to the ongoing debate over the safety of testosterone treatment, researchers report no significant increased heart attack risk in older men treated with an intramuscular form of the therapy.

The study, published online this week in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, compared 6,355 Medicare beneficiaries treated with testosterone with 19,065 who were not, between January 1997 and December 2005, and showed no increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in the treatment group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69 - 1.02).

“In this matched double-cohort study of more than 24,000 Medicare beneficiaries, we found that use of intramuscular testosterone therapy was not associated with an increased risk of MI,” say the authors.

Furthermore, "a dose–response analysis demonstrated no increased risk in MI according to estimated cumulative dose of testosterone. These findings were robust across a range of sensitivity analyses that addressed eligibility criteria, exposure thresholds, follow-up periods, and covariate adjustment,” they add.

* * * * *

Testosterone Therapy Does Not Cause Prostate Cancer

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jul 3, 2014) 

What are the dangers of testosterone therapy? Does long-term hormone replacement therapy increase prostate cancer risk? Testosterone replacement therapy is on the rise, though recent reports suggest that low testosterone (Low T) diagnoses may be too prevalent and that excessive treatment pose risks to men. However, according to a recent German study, long-term testosterone therapy does not increase a man's risk of developing prostate cancer.

Some experts caution that testosterone therapy is overused. Evidence shows that the treatment increases prostate size, elevates prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and permanently impairs the body's ability to produce natural testosterone. Leading New York robotic prostate surgeon, David B. Samadi, MD, Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, encourages men to seek a second opinion before beginning a testosterone therapy regimen.

"For some men, Low T is very real and can cause loss of energy, reduced sex drive, weight gain, and depression," said Dr. Samadi. "Men with truly low testosterone levels can experience tremendous benefits from testosterone therapy and may opt for long-term treatment. For them, this is good news. Their risk of prostate cancer is no higher than that of other men."

James Fell Meditates . . . While Lifting Heavy Things

James Fell shared this article over at the Good Men Project, a reflection on his exploration of meditation to help him focus and relax while trying to run a 3:25:00 Boston Marathon. I don't know if he made his time, but he learned a lot about his own approach to meditation.

Like James, I tend to be most focused and in the present moment (other than during sessions with my therapy clients) while lifting heavy weights. There is nothing like a heavy squat day to keep your mind focused in the moment . . . failing to do so could mean serious injury.


One of the thought leaders in this field is Rob McNamara, author of Strength to Awaken, Make Strength Training Your Spiritual Practice and Find New Power and Purpose in Your Life (2011). You can listen to (or read) a nice conversation with Rob (conducted by Vince Horn) over at the Buddhist Geeks Podcast.

How the Universe Responded When I Tried Meditation

October 19, 2013 by James Fell

James Fell meditates. He just happens to be lifting heavy things while he does it.

That’s the last time I listen to Jane Seymour.

It was her idea. She was telling me about how great Transcendental Meditation is, and how after a 20 minutes session she obtains amazing powers of concentration. She also told me that her son, a musician, does TM right before performing; again, to help with concentration.

It got me thinking that perhaps it was worth a shot. Not because I have trouble sleeping (I don’t), or that I’m stressed out (I’m not), but because if it actually does help the mind relax and focus, then perhaps it would be something that could get me in the proper headspace immediately before my attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon this fall.

I’m learning that concentration is going to be key. I can’t just power my way through this like I did in Los Angeles last year. In the past few months I’ve learned a great deal about proper running technique, and being able to hold form and run in as efficient a manner as possible is critical to sustaining the 4:40 per kilometer pace (roughly a seven-and-a-half minute mile) for the entire 42.2km in order to finish in under the required 3 hours and 25 minutes to meet the Boston Athletic Associations time requirements for my age group.

Sorry about all that metric stuff for my American readers. I know it weirds you out, but I’m running this race in Canada, so I need to think in kilometers. If you get confused, there’s an app for that.

Anyway, maintaining proper form and pace takes a lot of concentration, and when I run my mind has a tendency to wander. I used to listen to music all the time while running, but had to stop that because it hampers the ability to concentrate. Music is great for beginner and intermediate exercisers; it helps them create a “dissociative state,” which means it distracts them from the discomfort of training and allows them to push harder and longer. However, when you get to an advanced level, music actually inhibits running performance. To go to the wall, you need to be in an “associative state,” which is like embracing the pain, or something. (Read my entire article for the Chicago Tribune about using music for fitness motivation here).

And I’ve been doing some runs at marathon pace and putting all of my brainpower into expending as few calories as possible. This isn’t about fat loss – if I was chasing that an inefficient technique where I ran like I had a scorpion shoved down my running shorts would be the best way to maximize caloric burn per mile. It’s about enhancing my ability to sustain the fastest pace possible for the full distance, and to do that I need to not waste a single iota of energy. It means perfect form, with minimal vertical movement, a soft landing on each stride. A glide like I’m on a low-flying magic carpet.

Yeah, gotta think about all that. Get to the meditation part.

As a confirmed skeptic, I don’t go in for what Eric Cartman would refer to as “tree-hugging hippie crap,” so I began my investigations in to meditation not by going to any official Transcendental Meditation site, but by reading what others outside the organization had to say, and I found this story, which automatically put my guard up. Meditation may be valuable, but I balk at lining someone’s pockets with thousands of dollars to lead me down the garden path and off the deep end into mystical bullshittery.

I’m a pretty good do-it-yourself learner, and I didn’t think I needed some $2,500 yogi-guided course to learn how to relax and enhance my concentration. So I searched some more, and came across this article at “How Stuff Works.” It seemed pretty basic, but since I wasn’t trying to learn brain surgery I figured basic = good enough.

I should mention that during this whole learning process I was sitting on the deck at my parents’ condo on the coast of B.C. with my wife. She wanted to give it a whirl too, so I read her the basic instructions I found at How Stuff Works and we decided to try it and see what happened.

The first thing I noticed was that there was too damn much stuff to remember. Breathe in and pretend like it’s a lotus blossom opening in your stomach, and then the lotus blossom closes when you breathe out. Let your mouth hang partially open. Don’t close your eyes, but don’t focus on anything either. Imagine some kind of totem image in your mind. Repeat your mantra over and over. (TM says you’re supposed to get your mantra given to you from an official yogi as part of the $2,500 fee, and then keep it secret so it doesn’t lose it’s magical powers, but I don’t mind telling you that the one I came up with was running specific: “glide” was the word I chose.)

As far as a totem image goes, an appealing part of the female anatomy popped into my head – my wife was sitting next to me, remember – so I went with that.

And it was all too much.

After a while I ditched most of it and just tried to relax and do the opposite of letting my mind wander, if that makes any sense. This was about being able to enhance concentration for focusing on running form, so I just imagined good running technique over and over in my mind while lying there in the sun next to my beautiful and also meditating wife, who finished top of her class from med school and has never shown any indications of lacking the ability to concentrate.

It was a few minutes later when I felt a wet blob fall on my chest.

“Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed, looking down at the brown goo that had suddenly appeared on my bare pectoral muscle. “A bird just shit on me!”

My wife burst out laughing like I hadn’t heard in a long time. “Well, I guess that tells you what the universe thinks of your ability to meditate.”

With love from The Universe.

Yeah, we all had a good laugh. The bigger laughs came about 10 minutes later.

After cleaning up I’d given up on the meditating and was just enjoying a beer on the deck when my 14-year-old son came out with a look of undisguised mirth on his face. “Dad,” he said, “I should tell you that I was up on the next deck above eating chocolate ice cream, and some fell from my spoon and landed on you. When I heard you swear I couldn’t help it, I just ran away laughing.”

Well, everyone else laughed harder. For some reason I was disappointed that it was ice cream and not poop. Not sure why. Perhaps I’m warped.

Anyway, screw meditation. If it works for you, great. I don’t think I need it. Every time I lift weights it’s an act of supreme concentration, and during my pace-holding runs I’m learning how to put all my concentration into holding proper running form and pace. I’m learning by doing. I don’t need to enhance my calm or de-stress, because neither of those things are issues for me. I already engage in plenty of meditation; I just happen to be lifting heavy things while doing it.

– Originally published on SixPackAbs.com