NEW SITE ----> Go to http://www.miketnelson.com < -----for all my latest info a this site below is from about 5-8 years ago. Michael T Nelson, MS CSCS, RKC is a PhD
Candidate in Kinesiology (Exercise Physiology) at the U of MN and Fitness Consultant in White Bear Lake, MN. Ramblings here about research, training, nutrition, exercise phys, Z Health, joint mobility, and whatever else I want
Conclusion "Results indicate that regular consumption of chocolate bars containing PS and CF as part of a low-fat diet may support cardiovascular health by lowering cholesterol and improving blood pressure."
My Comments
We need to stop saying that certain foods are "good" of "bad". Pretty anything in its natural state (no a 7-11 slurpee is not found in nature off the "slurpee tree") is good. Now certain people may have intolerances to some items (for example dairy), but that does not mean that all dairy is "bad". Dr John Berardi does a great job on this point with his Precision Nutrition system (which is what I use when working with athletes).
So real, dark chocolate is good for you in small amounts. A whole diet based on it is not good. So enjoy some dark chocolate from time to time as it is one of life's inexpensive luxuries.
Greetings! Posting has been a little more sparse lately since I have tons of stuff I need to finish up between now and mid June--forms to get my research going, a final in Biostatics, ACSM presentation/hanging out at the end of May, super secret project, etc. Below is a simple and easy to use tip and info for those in MN.
Tip of the Week
Basics exercises are great, but most people are not symmetric and adding only a symmetric load will not "even them out" (eg. fix an asymmetry they have)
Here is a good way to tell---if you do a symmetric exercise (squat, bench, deadlift, etc) and you are ONLY sore on ONE side, you probably have some compensations that need to be checked out very soon. Not only are you at a higher risk for injury, your performance is also suffering. I will save you a whole discussion about fascial loading/winding for another day (sigh of relief). I of course would recommend a Z Health appointment to get it checked out. Click here for info if you are in the Minnesota area HERE
Model Integrity Event this Sunday!
Below is a note from my friend Shannon at Model Integrity about their upcoming event. Mike T Nelson Fitness Consulting is a proud sponsor of Model Integrity so check it out.
Many of you probably know that for the past few months I've been working quite busily on creating a brand new event. This event, designed to give people HONEST information on pursuing the local modeling industry, is coming up next weekend, Sunday April 27th, 2008!
In addition to a FREE session on understanding the local talent market and avoiding industry scams, our Model Integrity event features a local model search (no experience necessary) for ALL AGES. We will be awarding opportunites, such as a kids COVER SHOOT for the Twin Cities kids Directory and a teen/adult Beauty Shoot for Fresh Focus Skincare, amongst others. All of the prizes and details (location, times, frequently asked questions) can be found online at our website: http://www.modelintegrity.com
If you know someone who may be interested, please kindly pass this info on. :) Thanks all!
Just some random thoughts that are running around in my head. I am off to the local NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) conference this weekend and then buried in research/exams, etc for awhile.
Pretty scary that I am giving you a snapshot of what goes on in there--yikes! You can thank Aaron S for the prompting of this rant. Check out the link to his blog on the upper right here--great stuff.
Overload and SAID are NOT the same although similar.
I took a whole class on aerospace physiology once and it was great! Bone loss in space is one of the biggest issue for long term space travel. The study I looked at showed that russians who were in space a long time, years out while back on earth still have less bone mass (BMD) than before their trip.
The body only has a SENSATION of DOMS. As you know, pain levels vary across the board to the same stimulus--so it is a poor indicator at best of performance. In a lab they can pull enzymes like CK, etc to actual monitor muscle damage for the purpose of studies since they know only using a VAS for pain is not the best.
Interesting to note that someone with severe DOMS and high amounts of pain moves like dog poo. Hmmmmmm. They tend to move like chronic pain patients or even worse. I don't think that is the goal.
Louie (at Westside Barbell) is the man, and if strength is your main goal (ala Westside) than you need a ton of SAID practice and a crap load of frequency. The trick is that they don't play nice together (lots of heavy max lifts=no good). They know that eccentrics take too long to recover from (limit frequency) and are not as directly specific to their needs. Instead of ONLY trying to focus on recover, they do the intelligent thing and limit exposure to eccentric work in the first place.
I have looked at some newer research and I think that some DOMS or muscle damage is needed for hypertrophy, but even then I don't think DOMS should be the GOAL. There is a role for them in injury reduction/ploys too since you want to DECELERATE the force as quickly as possible and that requires large eccentric forces by the muscle, tendons, joints, etc. .
I did listen to Mark Verstegen's talks on Recovery (from the Fit Xpo) recently and it was pretty good. I wonder about ice baths all the time though and me thinks it is specific to each person's NS (nervous system). I did some informal testing awhile back on ice/heat for injuries on a few people and I could never predict which would help. Usually the athlete already knew if they were not brainwashed. Ask "Did heat or ice feel better?" and they can normally tell you. Another option is simple ROM testing while using ice or heat.
Model Integrity Just wanted to point out a new company called Model Integrity that is run by my good friend Shannon. The name really says it all and the company works with models of all types with the highest integrity. Shannon wanted to offer honest information and legitimate resources in the talent industry. The modeling industry, notoriously plagued with scams, can often leave aspiring models (& parents of young models) misguided and short hundreds or thousands of dollars, leaving them no further along in their pursuits than when they started.
It was that time in the Spring when the TSC was upon us. This event for those who have not heard of it consists of 3 events
1) Deadlift--max lift (weight) with 3 lifts (attempts). Belts are allowed, but no suit/supportive gear allowed (raw) 2) Max Pull ups (palms face away)--no cheating/kipping. Elite division adds extra weight 3) Max Kettlebell (KB) snatches in 5 minutes. Women use a 16 kg, Men 24 kg and Elite division 32 kg KB (33, 55 and 72 lbs for non metric minded people)
Each competitor is ranked on each event. The lowest overall number is the winner. See TSC Challenge for more info and past results
There were many more competitors this time than even this last Sept and the even keep growing each year.
Once again everyone there was super nice, competitive yet supportive.
Big thanks to Brad "No Relation" Nelson and Jordan for hosting the event once again this year at the Kinetic Edge which is a beautiful facility. They did a great job of getting everyone through in time and yet allowing enough time between events. Check out the Kinetic Edge here.
The competition gets stiffer and stiffer each year, which is great!
My training cycle for the event was not as ideal as I would have liked, but is any training cycle ever perfect? My main goals were to deadlift 425 and 125 reps for the KB snatch in 5 minutes (and not completely embarrass myself with pull-ups)
Weirdo Soft Tissue Work The deadlift was first up and I had done some new Z Health tissue release work that I got from Dr. Cobb at a recent private session and I was really feeling good.. It looks insane as I am doing a modified back arm circle, with my eyes up and to the right while holding a fold of tissue under my right pec and applying specific pressure--all done at the same time for about 10-20 seconds. After that I have never had that much internal rotation in my right hip EVER I believe. Goes to show that EVERYTHING is CONNECTED in the body! I've done some soft tissue work on others too with similar results and I've felt knots/restrictions virtually melt beneath my hands.
So on my way to the event I realized that most people have no frame of reference of how good they could really feel! I am not sure of a good way to communicate that the body you have not is NOT the one you will have in the future!! If you are doing thing correctly, the body you will have in the future should be BETTER. Yes, this applies to "older" people too. I don't believe in "old-fartis" as my buddy Steve calls it.
TSC Deadlift The deadlift was first up and I felt pretty good about it overall. I hit my opener at 385 lbs and it felt pretty good. I rushed the set up at the bottom a bit though. Next up I called 405 lbs which had been a lift that I felt I should have made many months ago, but had yet to complete and was starting to really piss me off to be honest. In the past it felt like someone stapled it to the floor (even though I had done 400lbs in competition). This time it actually came off the floor quite well, but I felt I rushed the set up at the bottom of the lift a bit. I got it to about my knees and my hamstrings started shaking violently--crap. I thought about dropping it, but I felt I was not going to injury myself and the thought of getting it that far and aborting just sucked. So I locked it out for a 5 lb PR. I skipped my next attempt as my body was saying "that is enough of that for today". Below are the videos.
and
Again, I can't recommend this form to anyone and this never happened in training, but I was happy to clear this "mental hurdle".
Unfortunately Shawn Friday had a hamstring issue during one of his big deadlift attempts (he was smoking everyone in the DL). I did some Z Health right afterwards and it helped a fair amount and he is recovering nicely last I heard now (anyone have an update?). He will be back for more next time!
Everyone did great in the deadlift and my training partner Matt Finlay pulled a PR at 330 lbs too! He got 350 to just below his knees and that was it, but next it will go all the way up. Videos below of Matt and then Aaron Friday puling a nice PR (personal record) at 415. Nice job Aaron and he won our bet; so a free Z Health session for him.
Aaron Friday
TSC Pull-ups Pull ups were next and nothing to report really other than I found my lats! Wow, I actually felt my lats working on a pull-up, so that is great news. I decided it was time to train pull-ups for next time, so I am working on finding some wall space in my garage and will be ordering a pull up bar. Anyone want to buy a windsurfing board? I am selling it to free up some wall space. I have a smaller pull up bar on my power rack, but the spacing is quite narrow and it seems to mess me up, so that is my excuse for not training them. Matt got 4, which is a PR (well, we never trained them so an easy PR).
You will have to tilt your head to watch the video. I haven't figured out how to rotate it yet.
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All Aboard the Pain Train.
Time for pain! Enter the 5 minutes of hell know as KB snatches! Anyone who has ever done this can attest to that. Yeah, there are freaks that are doing it for 10 minutes and beyond, but for us mortals 5 minutes is more than enough. My goal was to hit 125 reps in 5 minutes with the 24 kg (55 lb) KB that it was much faster than I thought it was going to be! I could have used a couple more weeks to practice as I felt my CRF (cardio respiratory fitness) was not the best, but I was still able to crank out 120 reps which I was very happy with. I decided when I started that no matter what I was NOT setting the KB down until 5 minutes expired, even if that meant switching hands for every rep at the end, that thing was not hitting the floor until 5 minutes.
I managed 30 reps in a row on my right hand before switching to my left and hitting 33 there before switching again. You can switch hands as often as you like, but you will normally have to do a KB swing on a hand switch and it costs you some time. After that it was a blur up until the end and I was hurting at about 108 (last years PR) and my training partner started counting backwards to help me hit my goal. Sounds cornball, but ANYTHING at that point to take your mind off the burning in your lungs, glutes and hams is worth its weight in gold.
Once I sat the KB down I have never felt that much blood forced into my glutes, hams and forearms in my life. I think climbers call this a "flash pump" Youch. And it was very painful, but after moving around for several minutes it finally went away and I was fine the next day. Mental note--next time do more than 6 warm up reps! Dooooh!
Below is a short video of Matt rocking the 24kg KB at the start of the test
Overall it was a great time and it was awesome to see everyone competing again like the Fridays (Aaron and Fawn), Nick, Brad and Joe and meet the new competitors-Maura, Dena, Alex, Greg, Albert, and Jala
Check out these blog entries from other competitors
The concept has been around for a few years now and it underscores the importance of WHEN in addition to WHAT you eat.
In general, exercise enhances the body's ability to use insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone and is most often mentioned in the storage of excess fatty acids into fat cells (yes, adding to your "muffin top"). Controlling insulin may help your fat loss progress then. While this is a drastic over simplification of many many processes, better insulin sensitivity is viewed as a good thing. A way to increase this is to exercise! Score another one for exercise.
The interesting part about this study was that they took subjects and reduced their insulin sensitivity and then determined the effect of exercise. They concluded that a bout (singular) of exercise enhanced insulin even when carbs and protein were replaced. So, even if you burn 200 calories and then replace them with 200 calories, your insulin sensitivity should still be better than if you never burned them at all. Further evidence that movement/exercise is good for you! They mention that lean, health subjects that they put into a temporary state of insulin insensitivity may still keep a high level of "metabolic flexibility"; so they can "recover" with less exercise than some who possess less metabolic flexibility. If you are interested in metabolic flexibility, see my review on it.
We don't need more evidence to show that exercise is good for us, but it does shine light on the mechanisms that may be happening.
If you have enjoyed this, I need to thank Alan Aragon for reviewing this study in his first Research Review that he puts out. In it he reviews several studies and provides awesome insights into each. I highly highly recommend you check it out by clicking here. It is WELL worth the 10 clams a month. I get ZERO money to say this and make no money off of anyone that signs up at his site. He does a great job of doing all of the "leg work" for you!
Thanks to Smitty at Diesel Crew for running my article on foam rollers. Be sure to go to the Diesel Crew site and check it out as they do some great stuff there and tons of back articles too.
So I will probably known for a long time as the guy who dislikes foam rollers. The main points of the foam roller postwas
1) don't move in pain as pain shuts down the nervous system 2) it is probably not addressing the SOURCE of your issues
Can I point to tons of peer reviewed articles about foam roller? Nope. Up until now I have not found one (although I have heard of some new studies going on that are not completed yet). Here it is
I will fully admit that it is not a super cool, randomized, placebo controlled, double blind, country wide, tons of people enrolled study; but it is a pilot study (smaller, easier to run). A pilot/smaller study is going to be a great place to start, since there are virtually no existing literature on the topic.
The summary of the study was that it did not show any change in range of motion (ROM) after a foam roller intervention. Not earth shattering, but I thought I would pass along the information.
I would be interested to see if the subjects were doing the foam roller work in pain/discomfort. Pain has "bad effects" on the nervous system (anyone getting tired of hearing that yet?)
New Blog Added! New blog added, so check out Sara's article below. Great information that everyone should read and pass on.
Conclusion: "TNF-alpha (Tumour Necrosis Factor) does not affect muscle soreness associated with unaccustomed exercise, but may improve the recovery of muscle function."
Conclusion: "The Future studies need to assess the effect of novel physical activity upon functional capacity as influenced by NSAIDs (non-steroidal AIDs ) in older and/or inactive individuals who seem especially vulnerable to contraction induced muscle fiber injury."
Conclusion: "So WER (work endurance recovery) can quantify varied intermittent exercises and makes it possible to compare the athletes' TL (Training load). Furthermore, WER (work endurance recovery) can also assist in comparing athlete responses to training programs."
Conclusion: "With the exception of muscle force production, fear of pain had a consistent influence on shoulder DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) outcomes, even after controlling for pain intensity. This study suggests fear of pain may be a relevant psychologic factor to consider in clinical studies investigating the development and treatment of chronic shoulder pain."
Conclusion: "The Position sense was impaired only immediately post-exercise (probably due to muscle fatigue), whereas impairment of the reaction angle to release persisted up to 3 days post-exercise (probably due to muscle damage). Attenuation of position sense and joint reaction angle of the lower limbs after damaging activities is a serious functional limitation that may lead to an increase risk of injury, particularly in older populations."
I think too often we get caught up in numbers and only look to those lifting huge poundages for inspiration (I will put myself in that category also from time to time). The reality is that true inspiration comes in all forms. I've seen someone struggle and show more determination with a 150 lb deadlift than someone deadlifting 600+ lbs in competition. Yes you need to train intelligently, but if you don't have the internal motivation and drive you are screwed for starters.
No matter how "easy" it will be, there will never be any substitution for hard work. Even in a perfect world where a trainer shows up at your home to train you in your home gym, a chef comes in to cook you tasty and gourmet meals, someone mows your lawn, cleans your home, etc--YOU still have to LIFT the weights and put in the work! No one will ever be able to do that for you. Today's culture is too interested in quick fixes.
Dr. Cobb recently said at the R Phase cert, "The body you currently have is the body you earned"
A very cool new study just published less than 2 weeks ago (who says this blog not bleeding edge-hahha) in the journal Neurology presented a correlation of poor gait (walking movement) with deterioration in the brain in older adults.
In the very near future, I predict via my cracked crystal ball we will have even more evidence that good quality movement will probably be shown to have wide spread neuro effects.
In a previous post about the brain and exercise, it demonstrated that exercise increased the formation of new brain cells!
Now we have further information that you need to get that gait of yours fixed! See this link for more info (note, price is going up as of April 15 also).
Of course I am biased since I do gait analysis, but here is the abstract to read for yourself. It should be noted that correlation does not prove causation, but very interesting!
Baezner H, Blahak C, Poggesi A, Pantoni L, Inzitari D, Chabriat H, Erkinjuntti T, Fazekas F, Ferro JM, Langhorne P, O'Brien J, Scheltens P, Visser MC, Wahlund LO, Waldemar G, Wallin A, Hennerici MG; LADIS Study Group andCollaborators (53)
Mannheim University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Department of Neurology, Theodor Kutzer Ufer, D-68135 Mannheim, Germany. baezner@neuro.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
OBJECTIVE: In the Leukoaraiosis and Disability (LADIS) Study, 11 European centers are evaluating the role of age-related white matter changes (ARWMC) as an independent determinant of the transition to disability in the elderly (65 to 84 years). We aimed at determining the influence of ARWMC on different objective measures of gait and balance. METHODS: Six hundred thirty-nine nondisabled individuals were prospectively enrolled and are being followed-up for 3 years. Subjects are graded in three standardized categories of ARWMC (mild, moderate, and severe) according to central MRI reading. Quantitative tests of gait and balance include the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB; range: 0 [poor] to 12 [normal]), a timed 8-m walk, and a timed single leg stance test. RESULTS: In cross-sectional analysis, deficiencies in gait and balance performance were correlated with the severity of ARWMC (SPPB: 10.2 +/- 2.1 in the mild, 9.9 +/- 2.0 in the moderate, 8.9 +/- 2.6 in the severe group; p <>
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support a strong association between the severity of age-related white matter changes and the severity of gait and motor compromise. Physical activity might have the potential to reduce the risk of limitations in mobility.
