Mike T Nelson Ramblings

I've moved again, your source for strength, more muscle and a stronger core

2011-07-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Maximum Results With Less Effort In Record Time with Mike T Nelson PhD(c)!

Go to www.miketnelson.com now!

For over 18 years, Mike T Nelson has dedicated his life to researching human performance. Which is one reason why the world's top organizations call on him to help their members perform at their best, organizations such as:

DARPA - the military's elite research group
The International Society Sports Nutrition
American College of Sports Nutrition
National Strength and Conditioning Association

The tactics Mike teaches in his seminars, boot camps and web-events are designed to drastically improve the results your getting from your currently workout – or could be used to build a new workout from scratch without injuring your lower back, or destroying your knees, or overstressing your other joints.

Size vs Core Strength

Head on over to www.MikeTNelson.com now to get free access to Mike's Core Muscle video pack for free, and you'll also get his weekly tips to build incredible strength, definition and size (if that’s your goal) --- you see --- you can alter these tips VERY easily to either add loads of size to your muscles or to just sculpt your muscles and build a tight, lean sexy body.

Head on over to my brand new site now at www.miketnelson.com

Thanks!

Extreme Human Performance is Up Now!

2009-11-12T10:04:00.001-08:00

I've moved!

Go to

Extreme Human Performance

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

for more amazing updates on Z-Health, Kettlebells, Neurology and Athletic Performance

Thanks
Mike T Nelson

Where Are My Ramblings Updates? Extreme Human Performance has them!

2009-07-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up that for those that are on the emails to your inbox from my Ramblings, I am working on switching the RSS feed to update you from the new site below. Thanks for your feedback.

If you want, you can just go to the site below and hit the RSS feed and do it yourself in the meantime.

Http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com

I will have all my updates there from now on, so check it out. Working to get the other links out there pointed to the new site also

See ya over there!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

New Site Is Up! Xtreme Human Performance!

2009-06-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

I've moved!
The new site is up and running, so please click below and check it out.

Http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com

I will have all my updates there from now on, so check it out

Http://www.ExtremeHumanPerformance.com

I have even transferred all the older material here, going back over 2 years to the new site; so you will not miss anything there.

See ya over there!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

New Blog and Energy Drink Study almost done!

2009-06-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the delays here, but I have been working on the new blog like a crazy man and it is almost done! It will be live some time on Monday, so check back here for all the info. I have tons of great stuff lined up too!

Jodie and I are off to a friends cabin up north tomorrow as soon as I complete my last test for the Monster Energy Drink study in the lab that AM.

Wow, I can't wait for that. I started testing subjects in early January and to date I will have completed 50 tests, each one taking about 2.5 hours or so. Lots of data to analyze now and I am over half way through it. I will be sure to update everyone on the results as soon as I can.

Special HUGE thanks to all the volunteers for the study, as I could not have done it without you.

Have a great weekend everyone and here is a hint on the new site coming on Monday

Extreme human performance powered by kettlebells, strength, mobility, and muscle through neurology

I am really excited to get the site up and going and get lots of killer info out to everyone!

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson

Kettlebells Are Great For Women Too!

2009-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Kettlebells are perfect for women also. The nice part about the RKC is that it is expected that you lift heavier weights, yes, even for women.

Rant Coming
If I hear one more woman complain that they "don't want to get too big" I am going to scream. That is the EXCEPTION and not the rule. I am sure it has happened to a couple people, but that is far from the norm. Don't let the fear of success stop you from even starting! If it does happen for some odd reason, it is quite easy to loose muscle.

Women are way more capable than most stupid magazines and bad infomercials give them credit for. Stop with the Kettlenetics, Kettleworx and all that other crap that tells you not to lift heavy (again, heavy is always relative to the individual). You MUST give your body a REASON to adapt.

Below is an inside look at the RKC. Watch closely for a cameo from Adam T Glass and a large spiky thing and local RKC Fawn Friday, Ellen Stein and others.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

PS
If you are interested in Kettlebells and taking your performance to a new level, I will have a special announcement coming soon for you! Stay tuned.

RKC Certification St Paul MN: Completed!

2009-06-15T06:57:00.001-07:00

Just a super quick note that I did my re-cert for the RKC and passed, so that was good.

I was there Thurs night until Sunday evening and it was a great experience to be able to assisst many new candidates become RKCs. It is a little hard to explain unless you have experienced it first hand, but I will do my best coming up very soon.

My hats off to everyone on Team DuCane and everyone else there this past weekend in sunny St. Paul Minnesota.

More soon!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

PS
New site is still on track and about a week to go. I am working on a special report for all my newsletter insiders too.

Muscle vs Fat Video

2009-06-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Off to the RKC meet and greet tonight and then I will be there helping assist Fri-Sun, so more updates coming on Monday here. Just finished a great Z Health session with an RKC candidate and he did awesome! We got his right psoas and right glute to fire much much better along with some increased shoulder range of motion and worked out a massive kink in his upper thoracic spine between his shoulder blades. Very cool!

Here is a new video showing the difference between fat and muscle. I think you will find it very interesting.

Iron Maiden DVD/CD
Jodie and I were able to see the Iron Maiden movie Flight 666 a couple month back in the theater and it was AWESOME! I am a huge music fan and Iron Maiden is one of the best live bands EVER.

It shows them taking a custom plane with all their crew and gear around the world to play in front of thousands of fans. Lead singer Bruce actually flew the plane. Using a plane enabled them to play in a new country almost every day.

The best part was watching all the members of the band doing something that they are so passionate about. They didn't do it to try to "cash in" on another tour, they did it because they knew that many fans wanted to see them play songs live for the first time. I love watching people do things that they are passionate about and if you are a music fan at all, you will love this DVD or CD.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Vitamin D Update

2009-06-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

New Bog Update
Just wanted to drop everyone a line to say that I am still alive! The cut over of the blog is going well and much of the old info you have come to know and love will all be on the new site, including all the comments. Yep, all 303 entries over 2 years will be on the new blog and special thanks to my web guy for doing that portion.

Still on target for the third week in June to have it up and running.

Vitamin D Testing
In the meantime, here is a very important letter from Dr. John Cannell about Vitamin D testing and reimbursement. The reality is that unless it is covered under insurance, most will never have their levels of Vitamin D tested.

One of the items in the list is hypovitaminosis D (aka low vitamin D levels), but your doc can't do a test as a screen. If he/she knows you are low in Vitamin D, the test is covered.

What sense does that make? If your doc knows you are low already, why would they need another test to tell them that? How do they get the first test to tell them that you are low unless you did it yourself via lab testing paying out of your own pocket! Crazyness.....

See the previous post below
http://miketnelson.blogspot.com/2009/06/vitamin-d-and-athletic-performance.html

From Dr. John Cannell

Dear Readers:

Medicare is up to it again, again trying to put dangerous restrictions on Vitamin D testing. Although the proposed guidelines for reimbursement are not as restrictive as Medicare's recent proposal, this proposal is restrictive none the less and, within a few months, will be adopted by your insurance company and every major insurance company in the country. Here is Medicare's new proposal:

http://www.highmark medicareservices .com/policy/ mac-ab/dl30273. html

Measurement of vitamin D levels would only be indicated for patients with:

* chronic kidney disease stage III or greater
* cancer
* cirrhosis
* diabetes
* fibromyalgia
* granuloma forming diseases
* hypocalcemia
* hypercalcemia
* hypovitaminosis D
* long term use of anticonvulsants or glucocorticoids
* malabsorption states
* obstructive jaundice
* osteoporosis (unresponsive to therapy)
* osteomalacia
* osteosclerosis
* psoriasis
* rickets
* vitamin D deficiency on replacement therapy; to monitor the efficacy of treatment

It would forbid screening, the most important use of the test. That is, hypovitaminosis D is covered but your doctor can't order the test to find out if you suffer from low Vitamin D in the first place.

You can send your comments via the Internet using the link below. For using the link below for your comments, this proposal's LCD number is DL30273. The name of the proposal is "Vitamin D Assay Testing."

http://www.highmark medicareservices .com/policy/ form-comments. html

If you'd rather send a letter, which is better, sent it to:

Ms. Anna Gene Risoldi
Senior Research Analyst
Highmark Medicare Services
1800 Center Street, 1AL3
Camp Hill, PA 17089

May I also ask that you send an email with your comments to Dr. Daniel B. Kimball, Jr., drdankimball@ gmail.com> He's on the AMA board that reviews this policy.

John Cannell, MD
The Vitamin D Council
585 Leff Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

Who Uses Kettlebells?

2009-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

New video from Dragon Door on Kettlebell athletes.

I can say that all types of athletes can use them, just be sure to get some good instruction so that you are using them properly. Even endurance folks can use them to balance out there training and I just did a Z Health/Kettlebell session with a top RAAM cyclist the other night.

Be sure to keep about from that Kettleworx crap though!

Mike T Nelson Ramblings: Kettleworx As Seen on KARE 11 TV Can Kiss ...

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Dynamic Joint Mobility (Z Health) vs Static Stretching: Q and A Time

2009-06-04T14:33:00.001-07:00

I had a great question from the wonderful post Smitty from Diesel Crew put up recently about static stretching (thanks again Smitty---you da man). I though I would post it here for those that missed it.

Be sure to check out The Diesel Crew

Hello mike,

I wouldn't want to ask you anything to sell your secret.

I don't understand how it could be any more efficient then foam rolling
with a combination of dynamic and static stretches. Say you have a tight
muscles whats the difference between massaging it, stretching it, or
doing some z health> which lasts the longest? etc.

Ha! No worries. Ask away--no secrets, but some things are just really
hard to explain over the internet at times.

Good question. For long term, permanent change we need to elicit
learning a new pattern/program.

Passive work (somebody doing something to you or you yourself as you lay
their like a dead fish) in general does not "hold" for a long period of
time since the learning effect in the brain is small. This does not
mean it is NOT effective in certain cases, but in general it needs to be
repeated quite frequently to be effective.

Foam rolling kind of falls into that area as you are moving, but not a
ton. Also, people tend to foam roll trying to INDUCE pain, which is a
bad idea as pain will inhibit performance. If you have a right shoulder
problem I can take a cow Massage falls into this category of a more
passive therapy. Want to drive your massage therapist nuts? When they
are done working on an area--get up and walk around the room and see if
there is still any difference. If NOT, what makes you think it will
stay once you even get home, much less tomorrow?

For increased learning, we need to do more active, controlled, precise,
movement. This is probably dynamic drills are better---more movement.
More movement= more motor learning. Z Health is based on dynamic,
ACTIVE mobility work. In my experience, after doing a Z Health drill
to target a muscle, it will stay "on" for about 2-5 hours; so I have
athletes do some high pay off drills for only 3-5 reps, but done 3-4
times during the day. This promotes more motor learning by getting some
overlap of the new patterns (increased reps promote learning too).
After about 3-4 weeks at 90% compliance, this new program is pretty well
wired into your body and we move on to the next issue.

Stretching can work, but be careful of what you are teaching your body.
The definition of static stretch is to put the limb/muscle into an
elongated position and teach it to be WEAKER. Can this help with some
muscles that may be "overactive"---yes, but you will most likely need a
trained eye/hands on work to find them. Dynamic joint mobility work
(like Z Health) can also target this muscles too. Randomly static
stretching is teaching your body to be weaker. DJM (dyn joint mobility)
is teaching STRENGTH, esp at an end range of motion. How many athletes
are weak during a mid range movement? Very few. How many are weak at
an end range of motion? Many (myself included on certain exercises).

Long winded answer, but I believe PRECISE joint mobility work can
actually replace about 90% of foam rolling, massage and static
stretching. Beyond this, think of how the brain gets info--1) eyes 2)
vestibular (inner ear "balance") 3) proprioception--joint information.
A system for extreme human performance, should target all 3 of these
areas---at a high level, this is what Z Health does. You can also add
to this very specific hands on holding of tissue while athletes do
certain drills also, but that is another can o' worms.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Neuroplasticity and Human Athletic Performance

Z Health, Proprioception, Neuroplasticity all on Super Human Radio

Super Human Radio: Visual Aspect of Performance

Vitamin D and Athletic Performance

2009-06-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

Greetings! ACSM was great and I am working on getting the info out to you soon. I am probably driving my poor web person batty as I am posting in a blog that will be transferred over to a new site soon. I am hoping to have it all up and running by the third week of June, so posting here may be a bit sparse in the cut over period; but fear not as I will have tons of killer new performance enhancement items for you soon.

Athletic Performance and Vitamin D
Something I have been following for some time now is the building research on Vitamin D. Vitamin is technically a hormone that does a myriad of functions in the body.

Vitamin D comes mainly from fatty, wild caught fish (hmmmmmm fresh sockeye salmon with some Cajun spice and a nice glass of Cabernet wine; oops back on track here) or your body can make it from sunlight (UVB) exposure. The downside for those that live in the northern climates like myself in Minnesota and my friends even further north in that tundra they call Canada, is that the amount of UVB during most of the year is not enough for adequate Vitamin D production.

What about muscle?
The cool part is that in research by Birge et al. in 1975 Vit D (in the 25 (OH)D form--the "natural" form in the body) has been shown to to directly increase protein synthesis (e.g. adding new muscle)

Optimal Levels?
The optimal level in this study is quoted at 50 ng*ml-1 for 25 (OH)D levels. Since there is so much literature showing all the issues of Vitamin D deficiency, future trials may become more scarce since it could be argued that to have control or untreated Vit D group may be unethical!

How To Determine Levels?
Keep in mind I am not a medical doctor (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn recently), and I am only providing you the information to make an intelligent decision about your health and athletic performance. An option is to get your Vit D level tested through your local doc. If that is not an option, ZRT labs does Vit D testing by mail, so see the info below.

http://www.zrtlab.com

As a personal experiment of n=1 I will have my levels tested soon and keep you all updated on what I find.

Here is the abstract for you. For my newsletter friends, I will have an exclusive heads up on a video with tons of Vit D info out to you all soon.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Athletic Performance and Vitamin D.

APPLIED SCIENCES
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 41(5):1102-1110, May 2009.
CANNELL, JOHN J. 1; HOLLIS, BRUCE W. 2; SORENSON, MARC B. 3; TAFT, TIMOTHY N. 4; ANDERSON, JOHN J. B. 5

Abstract:
Purpose: Activated vitamin D (calcitriol) is a pluripotent pleiotropic secosteroid hormone. As a steroid hormone, which regulates more than 1000 vitamin D-responsive human genes, calcitriol may influence athletic performance. Recent research indicates that intracellular calcitriol levels in numerous human tissues, including nerve and muscle tissue, are increased when inputs of its substrate, the prehormone vitamin D, are increased.

Methods: We reviewed the world's literature for evidence that vitamin D affects physical and athletic performance.

Results: Numerous studies, particularly in the German literature in the 1950s, show vitamin D- producing ultraviolet light improves athletic performance. Furthermore, a consistent literature indicates physical and athletic performance is seasonal; it peaks when 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels peak, declines as they decline, and reaches its nadir when 25(OH)D levels are at their lowest. Vitamin D also increases the size and number of Type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers. Most cross- sectional studies show that 25(OH)D levels are directly associated with musculoskeletal performance in older individuals. Most randomized controlled trials, again mostly in older individuals, show that vitamin D improves physical performance.

Conclusions: Vitamin D may improve athletic performance in vitamin D-deficient athletes. Peak athletic performance may occur when 25(OH)D levels approach those obtained by natural, full-body, summer sun exposure, which is at least 50 ng[middle dot]mL-1. Such 25(OH)D levels may also protect the athlete from several acute and chronic medical conditions.

Damien Walters Showreel 2009--A Must See

2009-06-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

You MUST watch this! Wow! Amazing athletic movement. I can't wait to free up more time in my schedule post graduation to working on my standing back flip goal.

What do you think about this video? Place a comment below.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson
PS
Thanks to MC for this one! Check out her blog at Begin To Dig

Kettlebell Interview Series

2009-06-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

My good buddy Geoff Neupert is doing a series of interviews with many KB experts and wanted to pass along the good news to all of you.

See the details below and yes it is FREE!
Go to the link below and sign up or see all the details below
http://kettlebellsecrets.com/aff.php?url=/markr/index.html&aff=kbfitness

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

How would you like to sit down from the comfort of your own home and pick the brains of the best kettlebell instructors on the planet at absolutely no cost to you?

Well, that's EXACTLY what you can do, starting Thursday, May 28th at 8pm EST.

Geoff Neupert, Senior RKC, will be interviewing the Master and Senior RKC Instructors, along with the Chief Instructor, Pavel Tsatsouline, about every conceivable angle and form of kettlebell training--from losing fat, to finding and fixing weak points, to training athletes, to growing muscle, and much, much more.

Just take a look at some of the topics that will be covered:

Master RKC, Brett Jones reveals the 7 key areas that are inhibiting your progress and teaches you how to uncover and fix potentially fatal flaws that will allow your performance to soar to new heights...

Master RKC, Mark "Rif" Reifkind explains the importance of identifying your breaking point—before it finds you—and the 5 things you can do to right now to reverse the results of any accidental discovery...

Master RKC, Andrea "Goddess" Du Cane shares why kettlebells are more than just tools for jocks and the military and are actually one of the BEST tools for training the elderly and de-conditioned...

Senior RKC, Will Williams debunks some of the most common misconceptions about training with a limited number of kettlebells, and why doing so can lead to some of the best results you've experienced so far...

Senior RKC, Jeff O'Connor reveals not only little known techniques for training kids with kettlebells, but also the safest, most effective ways to do so, explaining why kettlebell training for kids can be more beneficial than traditional styles of strength training...

Senior RKC, Brad Nelson reveals the ONE thing you must know about training athletes—especially young athletes—with kettlebells and how "sports-specific" training can actually ruin a young athlete's chances for future success...

Master RKC, "Dane of Pain" Kenneth Jay unveils the ONE most overlooked component in any athletic conditioning program that if violated inhibits recovery and impedes performance, PLUS he'll release a few of his secrets for training Elite and Olympic athletes that you can apply tomorrow morning to your kettlebell training...

Senior RKC, Jon Engum, also a Tae Kwon Do Grandmaster, will show you how to use kettlebells to "amp up" your striking power, regardless of style. Learn his secret "tried and true" field-tested kettlebell techniques to skyrocket your martial power and endurance. Grandmaster Engum promises you'll be laughing at your opponent...

Senior RKC, Doug "I Kilt You" Nepodal uncovers the 3 hallmarks of success to the Gracie Brazillian Ju-Jitsu School and shows you how you can implement them into your kettlebell training along with the 4 reasons kettlebell training is superior to other forms of physical conditioning for BJJ...

Senior RKC, Sara Cheatham divulges the exact kettlebell exercises and programming necessary for Active Duty Military and reveals how traditional exercise programs can actually be detrimental to the lives of our Armed Forces...

Senior RKC, David Whitley teaches you the 3 key ingredients you must include for successful fat loss in any kettlebell training program and troubleshoots the exact reasons you may be actually sabotaging your own fat loss progress...

Senior RKC, Shaun Cairns unlocks the hidden power in just ONE kettlebell and reveals not only which exercises to include in your program for maximum usable functional strength in any endeavor but how to modify them to your current abilities...

Chief Instructor, Pavel Tsatsouline simplifies the process of muscle-building, identifying the only 3 components necessary for building slabs of rock-hard muscle, dispelling the myths of the "musclemags"..

And a whole lot more!

So, no matter how you use a kettlebell, or kettlebells, whether you're an enthusiast who trains alone or in classes, or you're an RKC who teaches those classes, if you want to understand how to accomplish your goals faster, get results quicker, and live life fuller by refining your techniques gleaned from the insights of these Kettlebell Masters, you just cannot afford to miss even one of these interviews.

So how do you get on these exclusive calls that will never be repeated?

Go to: http://kettlebellsecrets.com/aff.php?url=/markr/index.html&aff=kbfitness

and register for this Life-Changing Teleseminar series.

To Your Improved Kettlebell Success,

John Du Cane and Geoff Neupert

P.S. We are so convinced that these interviews will take your kettlebell training to the next level and change your life for the better, we will be running replays of the calls for 24 hours after each call, just in case you have to miss one.

Its coming

2009-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

More soon!

ACSM update and new hydrolyzed protein study

2009-05-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Seattle WA. I just have a sec here due to limited internet access and more things to do yet today; but wanted to get this brand new study out to all of you.

Jodie and I just finished an amazing breakfast here by our kind hosts. Fresh espresso, pumpkin pancakes and an omelet with red pepper and roasted garlic. Yummmmmy.

ACSM was killer and tons of info coming soon (soon being early this coming week as I may not have Internet access until then). I cut down on my notes this year and only have 20 pages.

Dave Barr and I saw a killer lecture from Dr. Stu Phillips about testosterone levels and training--short version is that if you are in the normal range, being high or low will NOT accelerate or alter muscle size or strength gains (this excludes the very very low end and the very very high end--those using exogenous testosterone). Exclusive updates to my newsletter group too (thanks for your patience).

Here is the study

Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May 27, 2009

Ingestion of a protein hydrolysate is accompanied by an accelerated in vivo digestion and absorption rate when compared with its intact protein.

Koopman R, Crombach N, Gijsen AP, Walrand S, Fauquant J, Kies AK, Lemosquet S, Saris WH, Boirie Y, van Loon LJ.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that a protein hydrolysate, as opposed to its intact protein, is more easily digested and absorbed from the gut, which results in greater plasma amino acid availability and a greater muscle protein synthetic response.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare dietary protein digestion and absorption kinetics and the subsequent muscle protein synthetic response to the ingestion of a single bolus of protein hydrolysate compared with its intact protein in vivo in humans.

DESIGN: Ten elderly men (mean +/- SEM age: 64 +/- 1 y) were randomly assigned to a crossover experiment that involved 2 treatments in which the subjects consumed a 35-g bolus of specifically produced l-[1-(13)C]phenylal anine-labeled intact casein (CAS) or hydrolyzed casein (CASH). Blood and muscle-tissue samples were collected to assess the appearance rate of dietary protein-derived phenylalanine in the circulation and subsequent muscle protein fractional synthetic rate over a 6-h postprandial period.

RESULTS: The mean (+/-SEM) exogenous phenylalanine appearance rate was 27 +/- 6% higher after ingestion of CASH when compared with CAS (P < p =" 0.10)." style="font-weight: bold;">CONCLUSIONS: Ingestion of a protein hydrolysate, as opposed to its intact protein, accelerates protein digestion and absorption from the gut, augments postprandial amino acid availability, and tends to increase the incorporation rate of dietary amino acids into skeletal muscle protein.

ACSM updates

2009-05-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

Just have a few secs here before the next lecture, but check out my twitter updates on the following lower right for some cool stuff.

Gotta run to another lecture, but more coming soon!

thanks for your patience!

Rock on
Mike N

Performance Research for May: Fat Loss and Exercise

2009-05-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings from sunny Seattle WA. Yes, it is actually sunny out here!

Jodie and I finally made it here ok and we are off to tour the Space Needle, the Experience Music exhibit and Jim Hensen's Muppets exhibit too

I am off to ACSM tomorrow through Friday, so I will hopefully have updates here but that will all depend on my internet connection. I will have exclusive newsletter only updates for my newsletter friends too.

A few short studies on fat loss in the meantime.

Addition of aerobic exercise to a weight loss program increases BMD, with an associated reduction in inflammation in overweight postmenopausal women.

Silverman NE, Nicklas BJ, Ryan AS. University of Maryland School of Medicine, Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center of the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, GRECC (BT/18/GR), 10 North Greene Street, Baltimore, MD 21201-1524, USA.

Increased inflammation and weight loss are associated with a reduction in bone mineral density (BMD). Aerobic exercise may minimize the loss of bone and weight loss may contribute to a decrease in cytokines. We tested the hypothesis that aerobic exercise in combination with a weight loss program would decrease circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers, thus mediating changes in BMD. This was a nonrandomized controlled trial. Eighty-six overweight and obese postmenopausal women (50-70 years of age; BMI, 25-40 kg/m(2)) participated in a weight loss (WL; n = 40) or weight loss plus walking (WL + AEX; n = 46) program. Outcome measures included BMD and bone mineral content of the femoral neck and lumbar spine measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, soluble receptors of IL-6, and TNF-alpha (sTNFR1 and sTNFR2; receptors in a subset of the population), VO(2) max, fat mass, and lean mass.

Weight decreased in the WL (p < p =" 0.001)," style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the addition of aerobic exercise is recommended to decrease inflammation and increase BMD during weight loss in overweight postmenopausal women.

My notes: Nothing earth shattering here---you need to EXERCISE (heck, even walking) for weight loss and better health (less inflammation).

Effect of calorie restriction on subjective ratings of appetite.

Anton SD, Han H, York E, Martin CK, Ravussin E, Williamson DA. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. santon@aging.ufl.edu

BACKGROUND: Energy or calorie restriction (CR) has consistently been shown to produce weight loss and have beneficial health effects in numerous species, including primates and humans. Most individuals, however, are unable to sustain weight losses induced through reductions in energy intake, potentially due to increased hunger levels. The effects that prolonged CR has on subjective aspects of appetite have not been well studied. Thus, the present study tested the effect of 6 months of caloric restriction on appetite in healthy, overweight men and women.

METHODS: Forty-eight overweight men and women with a body mass index (BMI; kg m(-2)) between 25-29.9 took part in a 6-month study and were randomised into one of four groups: healthy diet (control); 25% CR; 12.5% CR plus exercise (12.5% increased energy expenditure; CR + EX); low-calorie diet [LCD; 3724 kJ day(-1) (890 kcal day(-1)) until 15% of initial body weight was lost, then maintenance]. Appetite markers (i.e. hunger, fullness, desire to eat, etc.) were assessed weekly during a fasting state.

RESULTS: Body weight was significantly reduced in all three energy-restricted groups (CR = -10.4 +/- 0.9%; CR + EX = -10.0 +/- 0.8%; and LCD = -13.9 +/-0.7%), indicating that participants were adherent to their energy restriction regimen, whereas the healthy diet control group remained weight stable (control = -1.0 +/- 1.1%). Despite these significant weight losses, appetite ratings of participants in the three energy-restricted groups at month 6 were similar to the weight stable control group.

CONCLUSIONS: CR regimens with low fat diets producing significant weight losses have similar effects on appetite markers over a 6-month time period compared to a weight stable control group.

My notes: I wish they would have measured body fat instead of just using weight and BMI. You want to drop fat NOT muscle; but if you only measure weight you don't know if you are dropping muscle and fat.

Opposite Joints: My elbow hurts, you want me to check my knee?

2009-05-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a question I get a fair amount in relation to the location of pain / loss of function and where to look for a solution.

"He who treats the site of pain is lost" ---Karel Lewitt, M.D., Dr.

Just because you have a chronic shoulder issue does not mean that you can SOLVE that issue by working ONLY on the shoulder! The first place I would look is the opposite joint; so for a right shoulder I would check the LEFT hip. For a right elbow issue, I would check the LEFT KNEE.

The technical term is interlimb neural coupling (see reference below).

How does this help in the real world? Keep on reading

Hey mike...you got me thinking on joint and cross joint and function. My right elbow has chronic arthritis and joint mice built up. I have full supination/pronation. But my extension is to about 130 degrees and my flexion is only at 90 degrees. It's quite limited! So I'm always altering movement. I really don't do much pressing anymore. In Z health should i pay extra attention to my left knee?

Just curious
Thanks a lot man
Jason Ross

The short answer is YES I have a video coming out on this soon, whenever I can steal 5 minutes to upload it.

I can't guarantee that, but for an elbow, the first place I would look at is the opposite knee and I would check the opposite motion too; so knee flexion (hamstring). Have you ever sprained that ankle on that side? I wold check the talocalcaneal aka subtalar joint since that corresponds to hamstring activity due to gait

Let me know what you find!

Mike N

Mike....I actually have sprained the left ankle pretty severely around 12 years ago. It has never felt as stable.

Thanks for your time man. Jason

Be sure to check out all the killer information on Jason's blog

Train Out Pain

For a case study on how to use opposite joints and the results, see the link below

Z Health and Marathon Running

REFERENCE

Brain. 2007 Jan;130(Pt 1):159-69. Epub 2006 Oct 3.

Exaggerated interlimb neural coupling following stroke.

Kline TL, Schmit BD, Kamper DG.

Neuromechanics Laboratory, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.

The patterns of interlimb coupling were examined in 10 stroke survivors with chronic hand impairment. In particular, the potential roles of postural state and motor tasks in promoting the flexed posture of the upper extremity were assessed. Through the use of electromyography analysis, joint angle measurements and a novel biomechanical apparatus to perturb the digits of the hand into extension, measurements of muscle activity and joint position were compared during multiple postural states, locomotion and voluntary muscle activity. The results demonstrated a significant increase in flexion of the digits (P < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">flexion and voluntary leg extension produced significant activity in the other impaired extremity, leg and arm, respectively, in the stroke as compared with the control subjects. Thus, rectus femoris in the impaired leg was active during finger flexion of the impaired hand in the stroke survivors and all four tested muscles in the impaired arm were active during extension of the legs (P < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">interlimb coupling related to active motor tasks, contributing to an upper extremity flexion bias following stroke.

Cardiobots and Cardio Bunnies--Stick to the Hornet's Nest

2009-05-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just have a sec as Jodie and I are off to the airport in a bit for Seattle WA for 8 days. Well, we were supposed to be on a plane now but there was a change to our flight time and the plane already left at 6:30am instead of 2:30pm today! Thanks for the great notice!
All the details will be in my newsletter that goes out tomorrow if anyone is interested (can still sign up at the bottom on this message).

Some good friends of mine were kind enough to open up their house to us (little do they know what is in store) and time for a much needed vacation. Neither of us have been to Seattle yet either and I will be a the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conference this coming Wed-Fri sniffing out the latest and greatest for all of you here. I am working on some special updates and perhaps even an interview(s). Some of it will be released here and some tidbits will only be sent to my newsletter group, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter at the end of this post (it is free too).

If you are going to be at ACSM, drop me a note and we can chat live in person!

So it looks like a previous blog post I did stirred up a few comments and I got permission to post one below as this weeks "Letter to the Editor"

Read on

Ok, time for me to say something about the language you use as you may be hurting yourself and not even realize it. First, let me say, I love your blog posts, I can tell you spend a great deal of time and effort to not only "just post links to research articles", but you take the time and effort to break down the research articles and you do an excellent job of summarizing and breaking it down to a lay person's level, who, may be interested and intelligent enough to really "get" the article, but who may not be willing to dedicate the time to actually read the whole study, in part b/c you break it down so well!

Constructive Criticism Details below: Anytime you write on your blog or in these email updates to your blog about strength training, you refer to it as "strength training" or as training for "power/speed athletes", but I have Never read you making Any derogatory remarks about strength training.

Except for the one blog post about "Broscience". At the same time, I have observed, that almost anytime you write, on your blog, or in these email updates to your blog, about endurance training, you Almost Always refer to it as exercise conducted by "cardio bunnies" or as exercise conducted by (in this case) "Cardiobots", or you may use some other derogatory word, but "Cardio bunnies" seems to be your favorite.

And I get that there are people out there who "only" will do endurance training, and I can see how you may feel that strength training is not stressed enough or paid enough attention to and therefore I can see that you may be trying to make a case for why strength training is important. However, at the same time, I think there are probably just as many people out there who "only" engage in strength training and don't see any value in endurance training. And I know, you know the value in endurance training, b/c I've read a number of your blog posts about how amazing you find endurance athletes like the bike race across America.

Plus, I know you are very smart and as a smart person myself (at least I like to think so), who tries to have a good balance of both endurance and strength training, I find it demeaning and simply not necessary, to almost Always make fun of people who engage in endurance training by calling them demeaning names.

This all leads to my question: Why do feel it is necessary to make derogatory remarks about endurance training or people who engage in endurance training, but you (almost) never make derogatory remarks about strength training or people who engage in it, but you in strength training?

Charles

Thanks again for the comments Charles. Much appreciated as it take cajones to actually give constructive feedback.

Yeah, I may be pissing off some cardio people although that is not my intent. I refer to a cardiobot or a cardio bunny as someone who does mindless hours of cardio normally on a treadmill or elliptical without any plan or any change in intensity--just the same thing every day hoping it will work better tomorrow. You can spot these people in big health clubs very easily (and they don't even wear rabbit ears).

I have HUGE respect for ANY athlete (athlete is defined as anyone that trains and uses their body for a living, so that includes pretty much everyone). I totally understand why people run marathons and heck, bike across the entire US from my volunteer stint on the RAAM and I give mad props to all of them. I personally will not be signing up any time soon though.

Don't worry, there are tons of stupid things that weight trainers do in the gym too! I tend to forget about it since the only gym I go to on occasion is at work and that is mostly cardio equipment. I do 95% of my sessions in my garage gym (aka the Xtreme Human Performance Center) and for cardio I primarily do KBs, some biking and now that summer is here more sprints, sledge hammer on the tire, push cars, etc.

I do feel the tide is turning and strength work is getting much more respect in the research community, but the reality is its much easier to study endurance training. I fully admit to falling in that camp too as part of my Monster Energy Drink study is using a bike ride to exhaustion because of previous literature (although not much) and it is easier to measure.

Yes, cardio (cardiorespiratory fitness) is very important! I actually believe that many strength athletes could benefit from more intelligent CRF work in their programs, even if strenght is their main goal. My buddy Aaron S from ND said it best, "it just helps to be 'ft'" I will save you a lecture about HRV and work capacity.

The reality is that this blog will never be a home for die hard endurance fans, and that is fine with me. I don't mean any disrespect to them, but I have to narrow the focus a bit to provide relevant info to the loyal readers

Hope that helps and thanks again for the feedback as most just unsubscribe without any comments or why; which makes it very hard for me to improve them. My goal long term is to make this a trusted home for athletic performance enhancement. I agree with Dr. Cobb when he said "it is actually UNnatrual to NOT be athletic"
Rock on
Mike N
PS
If anyone else has comments on this, post away in the comments section!

PPS
If you want some cool insider scoop from ACSM, sign up to my newsletter below

It's Good to be Fat!

2009-05-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, just when you think you know something, another piece of evidence comes out that is 180 degrees different. While I think we all should question and test all of our assumptions, this is a bit far!

I know the fat vs fit debate has been going on for awhile, but arguing that being fat is better for survival is insane! Even a very thin person has enough fat for a long time as an energy supply. We know that fat cells are VERY active and they don't just sit around on their fat butts all day; they are actually sending and receiving hormonal signals.

The argument that there is only ONE type of heart disease is equally insane, as I would be very surprised if this panned out to be true. Physiology is not that simple.

Just for your reading, here is the source and an article from heart wire, so judge for yourself.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Source
Lavie CJ, Milani RV, Ventura HO. Obesity and cardiovascular disease. Risk factor, paradox, and impact of weight loss. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009; 53:1925–1932.

From Heartwire
Obesity Paradox Probed in New Review
Shelley Wood

Despite being a key cause of heart disease, obesity appears to be protective in a range of cardiovascular problems, a new review concludes [1]. But that doesn't mean people shouldn't try to lose weight, lead author on the paper, Dr Carl J Lavie (Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans, LA), told heartwire . Indeed, patients who fare the best seem to be obese patients who manage to lose some weight, he said.

"First, obesity is a very strong risk factor and increases all types of heart disease, but second, once you get heart disease, the obese patients do better, so their prognosis is not doomsday," Lavie explained. "In fact, if you have obese patients with congestive heart failure or coronary heart disease or other heart disorders, those patients actually have a pretty good prognosis if they are treated well. But third, the ones who lose weight do even better."

According to Lavie, there is solid evidence to suggest that being overweight or obese may improve survival, not just in heart failure, but also in diseases like hypertension, coronary artery disease, and peripheral artery disease.

"There are a large number of cardiologists who don't even recognize that this is the case, and they are confused about it, too. It is honestly a confusing topic because if obesity is so bad, and it contributes to all cardiovascular risk factors and markedly increases the prevalence of developing heart disease of almost every type, then why, once they get it, do obese patients do better?"

The new review appears in the May 26, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) [1].

Obesity Likely Protects Through Various Mechanisms

The protective effects of excess weight have been best documented in heart-failure patients, where patients with higher body weight or percent body fat have demonstrated better event-free survival. In this setting, says Lavie, extra weight may function much the same way it does with cancer and other chronic diseases, by providing the body with additional fuel to help fight the disease.

Less well known is the relationship between obesity and hypertension, Lavie et al note. While people who are obese do have more hypertension, five papers spanning almost 20 years also point to the fact that obese people with hypertension seem to have lower mortality and/or lower stroke risk, despite less effective blood-pressure control, than do normal-weight people. In this setting, obese patients "may have a better prognosis in part because of having lower systemic vascular resistance and plasma renin activity compared with more lean hypertensive patients," Lavie et al write.

Also incompletely understood is the paradoxical relationship of obesity and coronary and peripheral artery diseases. Obesity is believed to play a causal role in the development of a number of major risk factors for arterial disease, among them hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, and is believed to be, in and of itself, a risk factor for atherosclerosis. But according to the JACC authors, there is also literature to suggest that overweight and obese coronary heart disease patients have a lower risk for mortality compared with under- and normal-weight coronary heart disease patients who have undergone revascularization procedures. A similar contradictory relationship has been seen in patients with peripheral artery disease.

Speaking with heartwire , Lavie emphasized that the protective effects of excess weight and excess fat likely function in different ways in different diseases. "We know that fat cells do a lot of bad things, but it's certainly conceivable that in advanced disease, the fat cell could have some beneficial effects. There's still a lot that needs to be known about this process."

Weight Loss Still Key

A key new piece of the puzzle that emerged in Lavie et al's review, however, is that weight loss, often touted as a way to reduce cardiovascular risk, appears to be a good thing in spite of the protective effects of extra weight.

"For people who follow this field, these kinds of findings have led them to question whether weight loss is good for heart-disease patients. . . . We found that the patients who do the best are the obese patients who lose weight."

This additional contradiction may be explained in part by the theory that heart disease in obese patients is likely "a different disease" than heart disease in lean people, in whom genetic factors are probably more important. "It may be that the obese person wouldn't have even gotten blocked arteries if [he] hadn't gained 70 pounds over a 30-year period," Lavie said. "The thin person who gets blocked arteries or congestive heart failure or high blood pressure is probably different from the obese patient who got the disease from becoming obese."

For now, he says, it's important particularly for the general public to appreciate that the "protective" effects of obesity in no way provide a rationale for weight gain. "Very clearly," he said, "if no one in our country became overweight or obese, heart-disease rates would go down dramatically."

For physicians, the data today are sufficiently comprehensive for them to encourage their overweight and obese patients to stay motivated to reduce their risk factors. That wasn't always the case, he added. "When people were finding this in their data, five and six years ago, they probably had some trouble getting their papers published, because it didn't make any sense."

RKC Certification St Paul MN

2009-05-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video to give you an inside look at the RKC done in my back yard (ok, not literally but a few miles down the road).

I will be assisting at the RKC I in June, so please come up and say hi to me if you are going to be there. I also have a limited number of Z Health sessions available on Thurs, so email at me at michaelTnelson@yahoo.com Right now I think I only have 2 slots open---first come first serve.

Hope to see you all soon and enjoy the video
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for May: Ergogenics and Exercise: Creatine

2009-05-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Effects of Creatine Monohydrate and Polyethylene Glycosylated Creatine Supplementation on Muscular Strength, Endurance, and Power Output.

Herda TJ, Beck TW, Ryan ED, Smith AE, Walter AA, Hartman MJ, Stout JR, Cramer JT. 1Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; and 2Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, Florida.

Herda, TJ, Beck, TW, Ryan, ED, Smith, AE, Walter, AA, Hartman, MJ, Stout, JR, and Cramer, JT.

Effects of creatine monohydrate and polyethylene glycosylated creatine supplementation on muscular strength, endurance, and power output.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a moderate dose of creatine monohydrate (CM) and two smaller doses of polyethylene glycosylated (PEG) creatine on muscular strength, endurance, and power output. Fifty-eight healthy men (mean +/- SD: age, 21 +/- 2 years; height, 176 +/- 6 cm; body mass [BM], 75 +/- 14 kg) volunteered and were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (a) placebo (PL; 3.6 g of microcrystalline cellulose; n = 15), (b) CM (5 g of creatine; n = 13), (c) small-dose PEG creatine (1.25 g of creatine: PEG1.25; n = 14), or (d) moderate-dose PEG creatine (2.50 g of creatine: PEG2.50; n = 16).

Testing was conducted before (pre-) and after (post-) a 30-day supplementation period. Measurements included body mass, countermovement vertical jump (CVJ) height, power output during the Wingate test (peak power [PP] and mean power [MP]), 1 repetition maximum bench press (1RMBP), 1RM leg press (1RMLP) strength, and repetitions to failure at 80% of the 1RM for bench press (REPBP) and leg press (REPLP). BM and MP (W) increased (pIIA<-->IIX). Eccentric resistance training has been shown to be highly efficient in inducing sarcomeric protein assembly in the longitudinal orientation of muscle cells. However, concentric contractions lead to a hypertrophic response (increased fiber diameter) in muscle which can still be activated in old age. The central signaling pathway to mediate the elevation of protein synthesis in response to training is the mTOR pathway, which is also stimulated by free amino acids.

Moreover, adaptation to endurance training is mediated by the calcium-calcineurin-NFATc1 pathway which is strongly activated by the calcium transients involved in the muscle contraction process. High contraction frequency and long duration of training sessions are essential for activation and maintenance of fiber type I expression as well as for induction of transformation of type II into type I fibers. Endurance training sessions should therefore be longer than 30 min and dominated by periods of high frequency contractions. A further factor in the muscular response to training includes the recruitment and integration of satellite cells into muscle fibers. Satellite cells can respond to muscular stretch, activity and injury with increased proliferation and can later be integrated into muscle fibers.

CONCLUSION: Therefore, new myonuclei are available to enhance mRNA synthesis and protein expression in muscle cells. New understanding of the cellular mechanisms of signal transduction in muscle in response to training, bed rest and ageing will help to optimize training and interventions in an ageing population.

Enough with the static stretching already

2009-05-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

As readers of this blog know, I am not a big fan of static stretching. Don't get me wrong, if you have any pain and/or movement issues you need to get them fixed ASAP; but I don't feel static stretching is the most effective solution. I think you can use mobility work for all your static stretching needs. Here are some related posts

Stop Static Stretching: New Research

Static Stretching--Good or Bad?

Human tendon behavior and adaptation, in vivo.

Stretching and Resistance Training and Tendon Effects

The Death of Static Stretching

Hey look Mom---someone else has similar thoughts!

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.php

rock on
Mike T Nelson

Sleep to consolidate a new motor pattern

2009-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

I am in the middle of pulling a bunch of data for a study that is due ASAP, so this one today will be short but it is a really cool study.

There are more data now showing that sleep is critical for the motor learning process. So if you want to learn a new task, skill or even a new lift in the gym; getting a nap or sleep should help "burn in" (consolidate) that new pattern!

This study discusses that the type of task and when you sleep may also be important for greater performance!

Contribution of night and day sleep vs. simple passage of time to the consolidation of motor sequence and visuomotor adaptation learning.

Doyon J, Korman M, Morin A, Dostie V, Hadj Tahar A, Benali H, Karni A, Ungerleider LG, Carrier J. Functional Neuroimaging Unit, University of Montreal Geriatric Institute, 4565 Queen-Mary, Montreal, QC H3W 1W5, Canada. julien.doyon@umontreal.ca

There is increasing evidence supporting the notion that the contribution of sleep to consolidation of motor skills depends on the nature of the task used in practice. We compared the role of three post-training conditions in the expression of delayed gains on two different motor skill learning tasks: finger tapping sequence learning (FTSL) and visuomotor adaptation (VMA). Subjects in the DaySleep and ImmDaySleep conditions were trained in the morning and at noon, respectively, afforded a 90-min nap early in the afternoon and were re-tested 12 h post-training. In the NightSleep condition, subjects were trained in the evening on either of the two learning paradigms and re-tested 12 h later following sleep, while subjects in the NoSleep condition underwent their training session in the morning and were re-tested 12 h later without any intervening sleep.

The results of the FTSL task revealed that post-training sleep (day-time nap or night-time sleep) significantly promoted the expression of delayed gains at 12 h post-training, especially if sleep was afforded immediately after training. In the VMA task, however, there were no significant differences in the gains expressed at 12 h post-training in the three conditions.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that "off-line" performance gains reflecting consolidation processes in the FTSL task benefit from sleep, even a short nap, while the simple passage of time is as effective as time in sleep for consolidation of VMA to occur. They also imply that procedural memory consolidation processes differ depending on the nature of task demands.

TED Talks Michael Merzenich: Exploring the re-wiring of the brain

2009-05-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

Wanted to send a huge thanks to everyone at the NSCA Spring Conference here in MN this past weekend. Thanks again to all that I met there, both new and old friends. I will have more in the next day or so.

Very cool Ted Talk on the neuroplastiticy of the brain and its ability to change!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

TED Talks Michael Merzenich: Exploring the re-wiring of the brain

Random Thoughts Friday: NSCA Clinic, More Muscle and Rock Stars

2009-05-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

Coming at ya with another Random Friday since all the cool people are doing! Actually it is a good way to get out some thoughts running around in my head that I am not sure what to do with or don't have time to expand on.

If you are reading this at the butt crack of dawn, I will be starting or finishing up my 4th to last (fingers crossed) battery of tests in the Energy Drink study!! Getting close to the end of data collection and a HUGE thanks to everyone that has participated so far! I could not do it without you.

Here we go!

1) Minnesota NSCA clinic later today and tomorrow

It is an honor for me to be presenting later tonight and tomorrow with Brad "No Relation" Nelson from Kinetic Edge Performance on the topic "Speed: Walk Before You Run: How Neuroscience Affects Speed by Two Closet Geeks" I can't speak for Brad, but I burned my closet for kindling years ago--hahaha.

We will be covering some ways to make you faster using that big brain on your head and efficient foot work. The player/athlete that can minimize the number of unnecessary steps he/she takes will be faster.

One simple example is how to start out going straight ahead (or to slight angle).

Some coaches tell their athletes to "fall" forward to get that first step and go from there.

Lee Taft has been saying this for years (and Dr. Cobb covers it in Z Health S Phase too) that if you watch the fastest players, they take a very quick step BACKWARDS to propel them forward and the don't fall forward---it is too slow. Don't take my word for it--try it!

They don't rock back like slingshot, they step back (plyo step) and use that foot/leg to DRIVE them forward fast.

Be careful doing this, as there is a ton of stress applied to the driving (plyo) foot--that does not mean it is bad, just go slow and get the proper form down and ease into full speed drills and do NOT rush it. Most need more mobility work on both of their feet/ankles too.

Is there any research to support this? Glad you asked!

Starting from standing; why step backwards?

Reference Kraan GA e al. J Biomech. 2001 Feb;34(2):211-5.

3 different positions

an athletic stance with no step back
athletic stance allowing a step back (plyo step)
a standing track start with one foot in front of the other
Found that the Plyo Step had a greater impact on an athlete’s acceleration in terms of force and impulse time
Also referenced by Lee Taft in “Coaching Away an Athlete's Speed”

Stepping backward can improve sprint performance over short distances (2008)

“…utilizing a step forward to initiate movement resulted in significantly slower sprint times to both 2.5 and 5 m (6.4% and 5.3%, respectively)

“…adopting a starting technique in which a step backward is employed may result in superior performance.”

Reference: Strength Cond Res. 2008 May;22(3):918-22.

2) NSCA clinic, come talk to me and say hi

Seriously, come on over and at minimum say hi, argue or throw stale muffins at me. I look forward to meeting many of you there and talking shop for 1.5 days-----yeahhhh ha!

Super stoked to see the presentations and one of the Gillinghams and pro strong man from Minnesota Dave Ostlund. Dave is also a brand new dad, so congrats to him!

3) Remodeling your body

Thinking out loud here about the remodeling process of the body due to weight training (more strength, more muscle and perhaps less fat). Here are my thoughts

Stimulus (weight training) + protein (calories with sufficient protein) = more muscle!

Stimulus (weight training, jumping, etc) + calcium and minerals = more bone!

If the raw materials (calcium, protein, etc) are not present in your diet you will have less than optimal remodeling, and it will also be associated with a "higher cost"

Think of it this way, it would be like trying to fix your toilet downstairs by stealing part off the one upstairs. Yep, the downstairs one works great now, but you have another issue.

If you look in the literature, there are some older cool studies on rats where they cut the tendons in the calf area to completely overload the other muscle (soleus). They could stave them, cut their nuts off (youch, I am all for rat studies now!!), and lots of other things and the little buggers still had LOCALIZED muscle hypertrophy, since the stimulus was so large.

The take away
For muscle hypertrophy, the stimulus and protein (probably more calories too) are extremely important. You could argue that the stimulus is the most important thing.

REFERENCES
: Experientia. 1971 Sep 15;27(9):1039-40.Links
'Compensatory' muscle hypertrophy in the rat induced by tenotomy of synergistic muscles."
Macková E, Hník P.

Cell Tissue Res. 1975 Jul 16;160(3):411-21.Links
Satellite cells of the rat soleus muscle in the process of compensatory hypertrophy combined with denervation.
Hanzlíková V, Macková EV, Hník P.

4) New Quote on Beliefs
I was talking to Frankie Faires the other night and the quote we came up with

"All beliefs are limited"

The mind is incredibly powerful and if you truly believe a new weight training program will help you, then it will (and there is nothing wrong with that). The power of belief is huge, but limited. I can try as hard as I want to believe that I can fly all by myself, but in the end gravity will win.

5) A shout out to all my friends kiteboarding in South Padre
Pete Koski shot this cool kite view video. I am so jealous....... if anyone in SPI is reading this, have some sweet rides and airs for me. Jodie and I will be down in Nov this year for sure.
Ride on

SPI #2 from Pete Koski on Vimeo.

I fixed it!

2009-04-29T17:36:00.001-07:00

The link to the article below got hosed up some how. It worked for a bit and then it did not, but it is fixed now.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Dysfunctional Exercise Cues at XL Athlete (aka How to Cue Exercise Correctly)

Mike T Nelson on Super Human Radio: Visual Aspect of Performance

2009-04-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up that I was recently on Super Human Radio again discussing how your vision affects your performance

Learn some simple exercises to improve your athletic performance on the field and in the gym

Should you look in the mirror in the gym?
Neurologic reflexes to maximize strength
Should you lift without your glasses?
Can you really "see" results from all this stuff?

Vision is MUCH more than just the ability to see clearly! Learn more below

Super Human Radio Show - # 295 - The Visual Aspect Of Performance

Special thanks to Carl as he does a great show and makes doing an interview a fun experience.

Be sure to check the Super Human Radio home page

If you missed the first episode I did on proprioception "2 way muscle talk" check it out below.

Z Health, Proprioception, Neuroplasticity all on Super Human Radio

Any comments, let me know!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for April : Fat Loss and Exercise part 2

2009-04-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

More studies than you can shake a stick at! As always, see my notes below each one.

Bring it!

Effects of Exercise Training Intensity on Nocturnal Growth Hormone Secretion in Obese Adults with the Metabolic Syndrome.

Irving BA, Weltman JY, Patrie JT, Davis CK, Brock DW, Swift D, Barrett EJ, Gaesser GA, Weltman A. Departments of Human Services, Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Pediatrics, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Health Evaluation Sciences, General Clinical Research Center, Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908.

Context: Abdominal adiposity is associated with reduced spontaneous growth hormone (GH) secretion and increased incidence of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Exercise training increases GH secretion, induces abdominal visceral fat (AVF) loss and has been shown to improve the cardiometabolic risk factor profile. However, little is known about the effects of endurance training intensity on spontaneous GH release in obese individuals.

Objective: To examine the effects of sixteen weeks of endurance training on spontaneous 12-h overnight GH secretion in adults with the metabolic syndrome. Design and Setting: This randomized, controlled exercise intervention was conducted at the University of Virginia. Participants: Thirty-four adults with the metabolic syndrome (mean+/-SEM: Age: 49.1+/-1.8 years) participated.

Intervention: Subjects were randomized to one of three groups for 16 weeks: no-exercise training (Control), low-intensity exercise training (LIET), or high-intensity training (HIET).

Main Outcome Measure: Change in nocturnal integrated GH area under the curve (AUC). Results: Both exercise training conditions augmented within-group nocturnal GH AUC pre- to post-training [LIET approximately upward arrow49%, p<0.05 r =" -0.34," p="0.051," n="34)," r =" 0.02," p="0.920," n="34)." style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: Sixteen weeks of supervised exercise training in adults with the metabolic syndrome increases spontaneous nocturnal growth hormone secretion independent of exercise training intensity.

My Notes: 1) Don't get Metabolic Syndrome---it screws up all sorts of things, and add GH to the list 2) ANY exercise will start to push you back towards "health" 3) GH was better, although it did not change the fat levels. This does not mean it has no effect, it just did not have an effect under these conditions.

Effects of Exercise and Low-Fat Diet on Adipose Tissue Inflammation and Metabolic Complications in Obese Mice.

Vieira VJ, Valentine RJ, Wilund KR, Antao N, Baynard T, Woods JA. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

Adipose tissue inflammation causes metabolic disturbances including insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis. Exercise training (EX) may decrease adipose tissue inflammation thereby ameliorating such disturbances, even in the absence of fat loss. The purpose of this study was to 1) compare the effects of low-fat diet (LFD), EX, and their combination on inflammation, insulin resistance, and hepatic steatosis in high-fat diet-induced obese mice and, 2) determine the effect of intervention duration (i.e. 6 vs. 12 wks). C57BL/6 mice (n=109) fed a 45% fat diet (HFD) for 6 wks were randomly assigned to an EX (treadmill, 5d/wk; 6 or 12 wks; 40 min/d; 65-70%VO2max) or sedentary (SED) group. Mice remained on HFD or were placed on a 10% fat diet (LFD) for 6 or 12 wks.

Following interventions, fat pads were weighed and expressed relative to body weight; hepatic steatosis was assessed by total liver triglyceride; insulin resistance by HOMA-IR and Glucose AUC. Rt-PCR was used to determine adipose gene expression of MCP-1, F4/80, TNF-alpha, and leptin. By 12 wks, MCP-1, F4/80, and TNF-alpha mRNA were reduced by EX and LFD. Exercise (p=0.02), adiposity (p=0.03), and adipose F4/80 (p=0.02) predicted reductions in HOMA-IR (R(2)=.75; p<0.001); p="0.04)" style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: There are unique metabolic consequences of a sedentary lifestyle and fat high diet that are most evident long-term, highlighting the importance of both Exercise training and low-fat diet in preventing obesity-related metabolic disturbances.

My notes: Ok, this one is starting to piss me off. Why was it the high fat? The TYPE of fat will have a radical effect on the results and the amount of carbohydrates in the diet may also alter the way fats are used; as Jeff Volek's lab have shown that saturated fats (which again are not all equal) in a LOW carbohydrate environment don't seem to alter lipid levels.

Enough with the rat/mice studies already! Why was this done in mice? I know they are easier to study than those pesky humans (trust me, I've done human studies and anyone who has can attest to that the "pain in the butt factor" is MUCH higher), but we need more HUMAN data on this type of stuff. The good part is that exercise once again helps! Get your hand out of the cheese doodles bag and off the couch!

Influence of sex on total and regional fat loss in overweight and obese men and women.

Kuk JL, Ross R. 1School of Kinesiology and Health Science, Faculty of Health Science, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Objective:To determine the influence of sex on the association between reductions in body weight (BW) and waist circumference (WC) with reductions in total (TAT), subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in response to lifestyle-based interventions.Design: Changes in TAT, SAT and VAT were assessed using magnetic resonance imaging in 81 men and 72 women who had participated in various diet and/or exercise interventions at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada.

Results:Reductions in BW and WC were significantly (P<0.001)>0.05). Reductions in BW and WC were both independent predictors of VAT loss.

CONCLUSION: These observations suggest that for a given reduction in body weight or waist circumference, men lose more visceral adipose tissue and less subcutaneous than women; however, the total loss observed for a given reduction in body weight or waist circumference in men and women is not different.

My Notes: I know you were hoping that this study was about how much sex you have and weight loss, so sorry to disappoint you. It does show that even the AMOUNT of weight lost, men and women can loose it from different areas. Nothing earth shattering there.

Moderate Exercise Attenuates the Loss of Skeletal Muscle Mass That Occurs With Intentional Caloric Restriction-Induced Weight Loss in Older, Overweight to Obese Adults.

Chomentowski P, Dubé JJ, Amati F, Stefanovic-Racic M, Zhu S, Toledo FG, Goodpaster BH. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, N810 Montefiore Hospital, 3459 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. bgood@pitt.edu.

BACKGROUND: Aging is associated with a loss of muscle mass and increased body fat. The effects of diet-induced weight loss on muscle mass in older adults are not clear. Purpose This study examined the effects of diet-induced weight loss, alone and in combination with moderate aerobic exercise, on skeletal muscle mass in older adults. METHODS: Twenty-nine overweight to obese (body mass index = 31.8 +/- 3.3 kg/m(2)) older (67.2 +/- 4.2 years) men (n = 13) and women (n = 16) completed a 4-month intervention consisting of diet-induced weight loss alone (WL; n = 11) or with exercise (WL/EX; n = 18). The WL intervention consisted of a low-fat, 500-1,000 kcal/d caloric restriction. The WL/EX intervention included the WL intervention with the addition of aerobic exercise, moderate-intensity walking, three to five times per week for 35-45 minutes per session. Whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, thigh computed tomography (CT), and percutaneous muscle biopsy were performed to assess changes in skeletal muscle mass at the whole-body, regional, and cellular level, respectively.

RESULTS: Mixed analysis of variance demonstrated that both groups had similar decreases in bodyweight (WL, -9.2% +/- 1.0%; WL/EX, -9.1% +/- 1.0%) and whole-body fat mass (WL, -16.5%, WL/EX, -20.7%). However, whole-body fat-free mass decreased significantly (p < .05) in WL (-4.3% +/- 1.2%) but not in WL/EX (-1.1% +/- 1.0%). Thigh muscle cross-sectional area by CT decreased in both groups (WL, -5.2% +/- 1.1%; WL/EX, -3.0% +/- 1.0%) and was not statistically different between groups. Type I muscle fiber area decreased in WL (-19.2% +/- 7.9%, p = .01) but remained unchanged in WL/EX (3.4% +/- 7.5%). Similar patterns were observed in type II fibers (WL, -16.6% +/- 4.0%; WL/EX, -0.2% +/- 6.5%).

CONCLUSION: Diet-induced weight loss significantly decreased muscle mass in older adults. However, the addition of moderate aerobic exercise to intentional weight loss attenuated the loss of muscle mass.

My Notes: When you are on a "diet" to drop some fat, don't just cut your calories and hop on the treadmill till you puke. You need to do something to tell your body to keep the muscle you have, as that is what keeps your metabolic rate in tact long term. This study provides data showing that even moderate aerobic exercise (think "cardio") was better than nothing. Although it was not studied here, I would bet that strength training would be even better at keeping muscle in this study (and there are data to support that notion).

Effect of dietary adherence with or without exercise on weight loss: a mechanistic approach to a global problem.

Del Corral P, Chandler-Laney PC, Casazza K, Gower BA, Hunter GR. Department of Nutrition Science, Clinical Nutrition Research Unit; Department of Human Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Context: Weight loss using low calorie diets produce variable results, presumably due to a wide range of energy deficits and low dietary adherence. Objective: To quantify the relationship between dietary adherence, weight loss and severity of caloric restriction. Design and Setting: Participants were randomized to diet-only, diet-endurance-training, or diet-resistance-training until (60-539 days) BMI <25 n="141)" r=" -" r=" -0.349" r="0.364," r=" -0.387," style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: Dietary adherence is strongly associated with rates of weight loss and adversely affected by the severity of caloric restriction. Weight loss programs should consider moderate caloric restriction relative to estimates of energy requirements, rather than generic low calorie diets.

My Notes: Um, yeah. The best "diet" (hate that word) in the world makes no difference if you do NOT follow it!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Dysfunctional Exercise Cues at XL Athlete (aka How to Cue Exercise Correctly)

2009-04-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote an article about applying neurology to exercise cues. The full article is at

XL Athlete Dysfunctional Exercise Cues By Mike T Nelson

Special thanks to Cal Dietz for publishing in and editing my typos by Jonathon Janz, MS, CSCS, USAW

Below is the start of the article

If most agree that training full body
exercises (dead lifts, bench press, KB Swing,
etc) is better than isolating body parts for
the purpose of training athletes, why do
most coaches still cue athletes via body
parts (squeeze those lats, etc)?
For those that don't want to read any further,
here is the crazy thought:
Cue them by the movement you want them to
do and/or do an exercise to allow better
execution.
Ok, you can stop reading now. If you want
more details, down the rabbit hole we go!

Head over to XL Athlete and read the full article (click below) and put any discussion points/ experience/ comments in general here on my blog and I will reply to them.

XL Athlete Dysfunctional Exercise Cues By Mike T Nelson

There are tons and tons of great things on the XL Athlete site, so be sure to check out their main page below

XL Athlete
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Mobility vs Stability, Primitive Patterns, Z Health and More!

2009-04-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

Question on Mobility, Stability, Primitive Patterns, Z Health and more!

Came across your blog and found it interesting as I have also taken some Z courses. I love it, but think that there doesn't have to be a distinction between the nervous system and biomechanical approaches.

I think both are necessary and we all need a balance between mobility and stability. Not sure if you're familiar with Gray Cook, but he wrote an interesting article on this topic a while back on T-nation.

I recently purchased his Primitive Movements DVD and he discusses movement patterns along with some stability work, including some Power Plate exercises. In one of his newsletters, Eric (Dr. Cobb of Z Health) stated his doubt about the use of anything electric, but I think he is wrong on this one.

I've been doing Z Health since 2003 and seen great results with it. At the same time, it hasn't restored proper function by itself and I believe most people will need some form of manual therapy and stability work for optimal results.

Vibration platforms are a great tool for addressing reflex stabilization. Just a tool, but effective none the less.

Look forward to reading your articles. Always looking to learn from someone new.

Thanks
Brian Morgan

Answer
Thanks for the note Brian! One of the things I love about this blog is the ability to interact with some really smart people.

I don't really like the term "stability" I think a better term is "coordination" (stole that from Frankie Faires). Much of this I covered in this past post

Jammed Joints and Muscular Weakness--Stability and Mobility

Also see Aaron's Blog post here

Not a Stability Issue

I do believe you need mobility before stability, as I stated in my lumbar mobility post quite some time ago (I am sure I am not the first to say that). Kids has tons of mobility and then learn coordination (stability).

Lumbar Mobility in Italy

Lumbar movement and Z Health comment

Cool that you have been doing Z-Health for a long time. Have you worked with a Z Health trainer? If so, what level? Many times after a period of time, you will need your eyes/vestibular systems checked as they can be impeding any progress. Don't just take my word for it, see this comment from Dr. Jim below

Testimonial for Z Health and New Dragon Door Workshop: Z-Health

I am actually totally for hands on work, as long as it is NOT painful---see my ART / Z Health post below (I think I am going for a record number of links in a post)

Active Release Technique (ART), Z Health, Hands on Work (Massage, Guided Exercise)

For research, I think vibe platforms are cool (although they feel really weird), but if I was going to build a gym from scratch, at 10K a piece I would put them on the bottom of the list. I do think they can get lots of mechanoreceptor stim going and many times that will even get people out of pain.

I spent about an hour talking to the nice people at the power plate stand at ACSM last year. Very cool people and I expect to see more use of them for pain reduction coming soon. How long that effect will hold once you step off is debatable. I think some cool mobility work (when done with precision) can get you a similar effect and will last (hold) longer due to the enhanced motor learning--you are ACTIVELY moving your limbs so that brain on top of your head has to work harder than if you just lay their like a dead fish while someone pokes/prods at ya.

Thoughts/ comments from others? Post them in the comments!

Rock on and special thanks to Brian for letting me post this here
Mike T Nelson

Movement and Brain Health: Running exercise-induced up-regulation of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor

2009-04-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Running exercise-induced up-regulation of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor is CREB-dependent.

Chen MJ, Russo-Neustadt AA. Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, 5151 State University Dr., Los Angeles, California.

The past decade has witnessed burgeoning evidence that antidepressant medications and physical exercise increase the expression of hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This phenomenon has gained widespread appeal, because BDNF is one of the first macromolecules observed to play a central role not only in the treatment of mood disorders, but also in neuronal survival-, growth-, and plasticity-related signaling cascades. Thus, it has become critical to understand how BDNF synthesis is regulated. Much evidence exists that changes in BDNF expression result from the activation/phosphorylation of the transcription factor, cAMP-response-element binding protein (CREB) following the administration of antidepressant medications. Utilizing a mouse model genetically engineered with an inducible CREB repressor, our current study provides evidence that increases in BDNF expression and cellular survival signaling resulting from physical exercise are also dependent upon activation of this central transcription factor.

The transcription and expression of hippocampal BDNF, as well as the activation of Akt, a key survival signaling molecule, were measured following acute exercise, and also following short-term treatment with the norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, reboxetine. We found that both interventions led to a marked increase in hippocampal BDNF mRNA, BDNF protein, and Akt phosphorylation (as well as CREB phosphorylation) in wild-type mice. As expected, activation of the CREB repressor in mutant mice sharply decreased CREB phosphorylation. In addition, all measures noted above remained at baseline levels when mutant mice exercised or received reboxetine. Increases in BDNF and phospho-Akt were also prevented when mutant mice received a combination of exercise and antidepressant treatment.

CONCLUSION: The results are discussed in the context of what is currently known about brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling.

My Notes: While this is a mechanistic study, once again science is starting to unwind the mysteries of brain function and movement. It is pretty clear that movement (running in this case, but exercise in general) affects brain function too! Another positive for mobility work and exercise in general.

Related posts

Movement and Brain Deterioration? New Study

More Brain Science and BAHG

Stroke of Insight

Neuroscience Research Updates for October

Neuroplasticity and Human Athletic Performance

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for April : Fat Loss and Exercise part 1

2009-04-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Two-fer and Twitter!
It is a 2 for 1 Friday! I was up at 4:20am today to head for the lab for some more testing in the Energy Drink study, so I am feeling a bit brain dead between Exercise Physiology labs while trying to stay away from the coffee as long as I can; so I figured it would be a great time to kick out some new studies for ya. Yes, I do read studies to relax. Scary I know.

Twitter
If you are interested in what I am doing, you can follow me at Twitter. I will have random updates and even new studies I am reading weeks before they show up here (and some never make it that far) and other tips. Feel free to hit me up there with anything you want to see also!

Click the link below and then hit the "follow" button below my mug shot.

http://twitter.com/MikeTNelson

On to the studies on Fat Loss and Exercise

Influences of a dietary supplement in combination with an exercise and diet regimen on adipocytokines and adiposity in women who are overweight.

Fragala MS, Kraemer WJ, Volek JS, Maresh CM, Puglisi MJ, Vingren JL, Ho JY, Hatfield DL, Spiering BA, Forsythe CE, Thomas GA, Quann EE, Anderson JM, Hesslink RL Jr. Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA.

The influence of a proprietary blend of modified cellulose and cetylated fatty acids (Trisynextrade mark, Imagenetix, Inc., San Diego, CA 92127, USA) on adipocytokine and regional body composition responses to a weight loss program was examined.

Twenty-two women (Supplement group (S) (n = 11): age = 36.8 +/- 7.2 years; weight = 87.1 +/- 6.2 kg; % body fat = 43.4 +/- 4.1; Placebo group (P) (n = 11): age = 38.3 +/- 6.8 years; weight = 86.9 +/- 4.7 kg; % body fat = 44.3 +/- 2.0) completed an 8-week placebo-controlled, double-blind study consisting of a caloric restricted diet and cardiovascular exercise.

Body composition and serum insulin, leptin, and adiponectin were assessed at pre-, mid-, and post-intervention.

From pre- to post-intervention, significant decreases (P < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">leptin (S: 28.3 +/- 3.5-16.2 +/- 2.6 ng ml(-1); P: 29.4 +/- 3.2-19.9 +/- 1.1 ng ml(-1)) (P < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">mU l(-1); P: 7.7 +/- 0.9-5.1 +/- 0.3 mU l(-1)).

Serum adiponectin increased (P < class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">microg ml(-1): 12.6 +/- 2.0-21.8 +/- 3.1 microg ml(-1)) (P < style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: Supplementation with a proprietary blend of modified cellulose and cetylated fatty acids during an 8-week weight loss program exhibited favorable effects on adipocytokines and regional body composition.

My Notes: Interesting idea for a study, but while the results were statistically significant, dropping 1% of body fat over 8 weeks is not much. Even if you were 400 lbs that would only be 4 lbs. Again, statistically significant does not mean REAL world significant. Perhaps if you are a competitive bodybuilder in the single digits for body fat and you are looking to drop a few more pounds, than 1 lbs a week is great. These subjects were far from that group though.

Adiponectin is a "good guy" and we actually want higher levels of it, was shown here.

Speaking of it.......

Adipocytokine and ghrelin levels in relation to bone mineral density in physically active older women: longitudinal associations.

Jürimäe J, Kums T, Jürimäe T. Institute of Sport Pedagogy and Coaching Sciences Institute of Exercise Physiology and Physiotherapy, Centre of Behavioural and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. jaakj@ut.ee

PURPOSE: We investigated the relationship between the decrease in bone mineral mass (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) values with baseline adipocytokine and ghrelin concentrations in physically active postmenopausal women.

METHODS: Leptin, adiponectin, ghrelin, BMC, BMD and different body composition values were measured in 35 women (age: 69.7+/-6.0 years) before and after a 12-month prospective study period.

RESULTS: Significant (P<0.05) class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">FFM) (by 2.56%) and BMC (by 1.63%) and increases in adiponectin (by 14.8%) were seen in older females as a result of the study period. The independent variables that were associated with decreases in total BMC were baseline fat mass (FM) and adiponectin explaining 30.6% (R(2)x100) of the total variance. In another model, baseline FFM and leptin were the independent variables that explained 20.6% (P<0.05) class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">BMD value. The variables that were associated with decreases in femoral neck BMD were FM and leptin (R(2)=0.102; P<0.05), class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_68">adiponectin in the model with decreases in lumbar spine BMD as the dependent variable, and accounted for 13.1% (P<0.05) class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_70">BMD variance.

CONCLUSIONS: Initial adiponectin concentration together with specific body composition characteristics predicted loss in bone mineral mass and lumbar spine bone mineral density values, while initial leptin concentration together with specific body composition parameters determined the loss in total and femoral neck bone mineral density values in physically active older women.

My notes: Keep in mind that this is an ASSOCIATION study which means that "Hey, we saw this and this!" It does NOT mean that "This CAUSED that"

A classic example is if you observe a large fire and see tons of fire trucks there. You could INcorrectly assume that the huge number of fire trucks there CAUSED the fire (which would be untrue).

Having said all that, I am interested as we start to uncover how the body is all interconnected. It makes sense that if we have more muscle and muscle pulls on bone, great muscle mass means greater stress on the bones (from the shear weight and more likely the higher forces exerted on the bone).

Beyond that, there is some early data showing a correlation between bone and fat loss and this study provides a little more data in the area as it was looking at hormone level.

Supervised exercise versus non-supervised exercise for reducing weight in obese adults.

Nicolaï SP, Kruidenier LM, Leffers P, Hardeman R, Hidding A, Teijink JA. Department of Vascular Surgery, Atrium medical centre Parkstad Heerlen, The Netherlands j.a.kragten@wcnnet.nl.

AIM: The prevalence of obesity is rising. Because obesity is positively associated with many health related risks and negatively associated with life expectancy this is a threat to public health. Physical exercise is a well known method to lose fat mass. Due to shame of their appearance, bad general condition and social isolation, starting and continuing physical exercise tends to be problematic for obese adults. A supervised training program could be useful to overcome such negative factors. In this study we hypothesized that offering a supervised exercise program for obese adults would lead to greater benefits in body fat and total body mass reduction than a non-specific oral advice to increase their physical activity.

METHODS: Thirty-four participants were randomised to a supervised exercise program group (N.=17) and a control group (N.=17). Fifteen candidates in the intervention group and 12 in the control group appeared for baseline measurements and bought an all inclusive sports pass to a health club for Euro 10, per month. The control group just received the oral advice to increase their physical activity at their convenience. The supervised exercise group received biweekly exercise sessions of 2 hours with an estimated energy expenditure of 2 500 kJ per hour. Both groups received no dietary advice. RESULTS: After 4 months the overall decrease in body mass in the intervention group was 8.0 kg (SD 6.2) and the decrease in body fat was 6.2 kg (SD 4.5). The control group lost 2.8 kg overall (SD 4.2) and the decrease in body fat was 1.7 kg (SD 3.1). Correction for differences between groups in gender and age by multiple linear regression analysis showed significantly greater loss of total body mass (P = 0.001) and fat mass (P =0.002) in the intervention group compared with the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: Stimulation of physical activity alone seems to result in a slight short term body mass and fat mass reduction in obese adults who are eager to lose weight. Supervised exercise under supervision of a qualified fitness instructor leads to a larger decrease.

My Notes: Part of me is sad that we even have to do studies like this, but they are good to have.

Once again it goes to show you that if you want RESULTS get a PROFESSIONAL to help you!

If you get in trouble, are you going to try to represent yourself in court--I sure hope not! Do you try to diagnose yourself when you have a serious health issue--again, I hope not. So why do you think you can design and even further FOLLOW your own nutrition and exercise plan? If you want serious results, you need to get professional help.

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for April : Ergogenics and Exercise: Caffeine

2009-04-24T03:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings! Just a quick update on a new study below.\

I will be having dinner with my good friend "The Movement Doctor" tonight, so I am super excited to learn lots of new stuff. Check out her website below

ESSENTIAL STRENGTH

on to the study

EFFECT OF PHYSIOLOGICAL LEVELS OF CAFFEINE ON Ca2+ HANDLING AND FATIGUE DEVELOPMENT IN XENOPUS ISOLATED SINGLE MYOFI BERS.

Rosser JI, Walsh B, Hogan MC. University of California - San Diego.

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether exposure to exogenous physiological concentrations of caffeine influence contractility, Ca(2+) handling, and fatigue development in isolated single Xenopus laevis skeletal muscle fibers. After isolation, two identical contractile periods (separated by 60 min rest) were conducted in each single myofiber (n=8) at 20 degrees C. During the first contractile period, four fibers were perfused with a non-caffeinated Ringer's solution, while the other four fibers were perfused with a caffeinated (70 microM) Ringer's solution.

The order was reversed for the second contractile period. The single myofibers were stimulated during each contractile period at increasing frequencies (0.16, 0.20, 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, and 1.0 tetanic contractions/second) with each stimulation frequency lasting 2 minutes until fatigue ensued, defined in this study as a fall in tension development to 66% of maximum. Tension development and free cytosolic [Ca(2+)] (fura-2 fluorescence spectroscopy) were simultaneously measured. There was no significant difference in the peak force generation, time to fatigue, cytosolic Ca(2+) levels, or relaxation times between the non-caffeinated and caffeinated trials.

CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that physiological levels of caffeine have no significant effect on Xenopus single myofiber contractility, Ca(2+) handling, and fatigue development and suggest that that any ergogenic effects of physiological levels of caffeine on muscle performance during contractions of moderate-to-high intensity are likely related to factors extraneous to the muscle fiber.

My Notes: While readers of this blog will be quick to point out that this was a highly isolated study done in a dish, the cool part is that you can isolate some interesting things. Having said that, this is a very crude study and I am scratching my head at what was novel here? How is this new in 2009?

For those that are wondering, it is a type of frog; although classically many of the early experiments on the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) were done in a similar set up. Heck, I took a whole class where we did this and the crazy set up to the experiment may take you 2-3 hours BEFORE you measure anything.

The newer researcher shows that the main effect of caffeine is central nervous system related (CNS). I am still amazed at how much we don't know about the mechanisms of caffeine, even though it has been studied for quite some time.

Bustin' Broscience: Leucine (BCAAs) stimulate insulin

2009-04-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

Bustin' Broscience: Leucine and insulin
I am going to start some short research articles here called "Bustin Broscience" Most of these will be short using newer research and while they will be far from a complete literature review I want to promote some good discussion and attempt to whittle away at some of the misinformation out there.

While I find anecdotal information interesting, it can be affected by so many things that on the evidence chain I would have it at the bottom. There is a reason we have placebo controlled trials/experiments and blinded subjects and researchers.

Thanks to Joel for the image on the right. Can anyone alter it to put a big red line through it?

If you are looking for much more depth, I would highly recommend Alan Aragon's Research Review. It is only 10 clams a month and I make zero money from recommending it, but he does his homework on all of the topics he covers each month.

Click below for more information

Alan Aragon's Research Review

Bustin' Broscience
What the heck is broscience? Here is the definition from the Urban Dictionary. Not sure where the term started and Alan Aragon was the first I read who had used it.

Broscience is the predominant brand of reasoning in bodybuilding circles where the anecdotal reports of jacked dudes are considered more credible than scientific research.

Broscience in action: "Bro, you gotta slam 40-60 grams of waxy maize plus 20 grams of BCAA within 7 seconds of finishing your last set of squat rack curls. Otherwise, you'll go straight catabolic."

Broscience says "Leucine stimulates insulin"

Is this one about to busted?

Leucine
I am predicting some interesting data on the use of the amino acid leucine coming soon. We know that acutely it stimulates the mTOR receptor which is one of the keys to protein synthesis (build more muscle). Long term data, however, is not as plentiful (although I hear there are several cool studies being conducted now.)

Insulin
While a whole review of the actions of insulin would be volumes, the very very short take away is that insulin is one of the key anabolic hormones in the body. I am using the strict definition of anabolic from the term anaolism.

a·nab·o·lism (-nb-lzm)
n.
The phase of metabolism in which simple substances are synthesized into the complex materials of living tissue.

It is just the fancy term for putting stuff together in the body. Most bodybuilders use this term to exclusively talk about taking amino acids and stuffing them into muscle proteins (which I am all for of course since that will make larger muscles), but it can also apply to taking free fatty acids (FFAs) from the blood and putting them in fat (adipose) tissue.

So insulin is the main anabolic hormone and the basic theory is that more insulin will increase the process of stuffing more fats into adipose tissue.

Do you get get fat by using leucine?

Here is an interesting study where they added leucine to the drinking water of our fury little friends. Let's see if there is an effects on fatness (obesity) and insulin?

Leucine Supplementation of Drinking Water Does Not Alter Susceptibility to Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice,

They stated, "Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), Leu, and the signaling pathways they regulate have been reported to either improve or worsen adiposity and insulin sensitivity."

They added leucine or BCAAs to the rat's water and fed them lots of food and measured metabolic rate and insulin tolerance.

They found that, "Compared with control, supplementation did not affect body weight, food intake, oxygen consumption, locomotor activity, body composition, insulin tolerance, or total cholesterol."

While this study is limited and done in rats, that is strike one

What else?

Here is another study

Leucine, when ingested with glucose, synergistically stimulates insulin secretion and lowers blood glucose

The goal of this study was to determine whether leucine stimulates insulin and/or glucagon secretion and whether, when it is ingested with glucose, it modifies the glucose, insulin, or glucagon response.

They used 13 human subjects, which is good as we are not rats; but those little fury guys are much easier to do highly controlled studies on though. The arrived fasted and got some leucine and 25 g of glucose wile they measured serum leucine, glucose, insulin, glucagon, and α-amino nitrogen concentrations over a 2.5-hour period after ingestion of the test meal. The amount of leucine provided was equivalent to that present in a high-protein meal, that is, that approximately present in a 350-g steak.

Leucine concentrations
Leucine did appear in the blood and acutally REDUCED the 2.5-hour glucose area response by 50%. Leucine, when ingested ALONE, increased the serum insulin area response modestly but glucagon (the antangonist to insulin) also changed.

Think of glucagon as one of the "anti-insulin" hormones and leucine actually increased glucagon!

Shut up and get to the point
2 fold on this study

1) Leucine at a dose equivalent to that present in a high-protein meal, had little effect on serum glucose or insulin concentrations

2) When leucine was ingested with glucose, it attenuated the serum glucose response and strongly stimulated additional insulin secretion.

In English please
This shows there is some data that leucine when combined glucose, may increase insulin levels but other hormonal levels change too.

Personal note
If you have ever looked at insulin data (I am currently doing this for a study), it varies much more than you would imagine. Your body is CONSTANTLY adjusting insulin and the "anti-insulin" hormones by the second.

History lesson
As far as I could tell, this below is the first one I can find discussiong leucine and insulin stimulation, published in AJP in 1983.

L-leucine methyl ester stimulates insulin secretion and islet glutamate dehydrogenase

The huge downside of this one is that it used perifusion of collagenase-isolated mouse pancreatic islets. In other words, isolated cells in fluid. While ths is a a great START, many many times these data do not translate to whole human (in-vivo) studies.

The final word
I give this one a (drum roll please................)
Plausible

It may happen, but I am not convinced that adding a few grams of leucine or BCAAs to your nutrition is going to dramatically affect insulin levels. Again, this is a supplement, so get your nutrition in line with real food first before you decide to add any fancy supplements.

Comments on this issue of Bustin' Broscience.
Let me know if you this is useful and any feedback you have!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

REFERENCES

Leucine Supplementation of Drinking Water Does Not Alter Susceptibility to Diet-Induced Obesity in Mice,

Ali Nairizi, Pengxiang She, Thomas C. Vary and Christopher J. Lynch., Penn State Hershey Institute for Diabetes and Obesity and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), Leu, and the signaling pathways they regulate have been reported to either improve or worsen adiposity and insulin sensitivity. Therefore, it is unclear whether dietary supplementation of Leu would be beneficial. To help address this question, we examined the effect of adding Leu (150 mmol/L; Expt. 1 and Expt. 2) or BCAA (109 mmol/L of each; Expt. 3) to the drinking water on diet-induced obesity (induced with a 60-kJ% fat diet) in singly housed C57BL6/J male mice for at least 14 wk. Liquid and solid food intakes were evaluated weekly along with body weight. During the last few weeks, several blood samples were taken at different times for plasma glucose, total cholesterol, or Leu measurements.

Metabolic rate by indirect calorimetry, locomotor activity by light beam breaking, body composition by H1-NMR, and insulin tolerance were also determined. Compared with control, supplementation did not affect body weight, food intake, oxygen consumption, locomotor activity, body composition, insulin tolerance, or total cholesterol. In fed mice, this method of Leu supplementation only increased plasma Leu by 76% when the supplemented group was compared with control. On the other hand, after overnight food deprivation, the plasma Leu did not differ between these 2 groups, even though the mice in the supplemented group had continuous access to Leu-containing water during the solid food deprivation.

CONCLUSION: Taken together, the results do not provide evidence that either Leu or Branched-chain amino acids supplementation of drinking water ameliorates diet-induced obesity in mice, although it may improve glycemia.

Leucine, when ingested with glucose, synergistically stimulates insulin secretion and lowers blood glucose

Auteur(s) / Author(s)
KALOGEROPOULOU Dionysia (1 2) ; LAFAVE Laura ; SCHWEIM Kelly ; GANNON Mary C. (1 2 3) ; NUTTALL Frank Q. (1 2) ;

(1) Endocrine, Metabolism and Nutrition Section, VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN 55417, ETATS-UNIS
(2) Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, ETATS-UNIS
(3) Department of Food Science & Nutrition, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, ETATS-UNIS
Résumé / Abstract
Our laboratory is interested in the metabolic effects of ingested proteins. As part of this research, we currently are investigating the metabolic effects of ingested individual amino acids. The objective of the current study was to determine whether leucine stimulates insulin and/or glucagon secretion and whether, when it is ingested with glucose, it modifies the glucose, insulin, or glucagon response. Thirteen healthy subjects (6 men and 7 women) were studied on 4 different occasions. Subjects were admitted to the special diagnostic and treatment unit after a 12-hour fast. They received test meals at 8:00 AM. On the first occasion, they received water only. Thereafter, they received 25 g glucose or 1 mmol/kg lean body mass leucine or 1 mmol/kg lean body mass leucine plus 25 g glucose in random order. Serum leucine, glucose, insulin, glucagon, and α-amino nitrogen concentrations were measured at various times during a 2.5-hour period after ingestion of the test meal. The amount of leucine provided was equivalent to that present in a high-protein meal, that is, that approximately present in a 350-g steak. After leucine ingestion, the leucine concentration increased 7-fold; and the α-amino nitrogen concentration increased by 16%. Ingested leucine did not affect the serum glucose concentration. When leucine was ingested with glucose, it reduced the 2.5-hour glucose area response by 50%. Leucine, when ingested alone, increased the serum insulin area response modestly. However, it increased the insulin area response to glucose by an additional 66%; that is, it almost doubled the response. Ingested leucine stimulated an increase in glucagon. Ingested glucose decreased it. When ingested together, the net effect was essentially no change in glucagon area. In summary, leucine at a dose equivalent to that present in a high-protein meal, had little effect on serum glucose or insulin concentrations but did increase the glucagon concentration. When leucine was ingested with glucose, it attenuated the serum glucose response and strongly stimulated additional insulin secretion. Leucine also attenuated the decrease in glucagon expected when glucose alone is ingested. The data suggest that a rise in glucose concentration is necessary for leucine to stimulate significant insulin secretion. This in turn reduces the glucose response to ingested glucose.

L-leucine methyl ester stimulates insulin secretion and islet glutamate dehydrogenase

AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol 245, Issue 4 338-E346, Copyright © 1983 by American Physiological Society

P. Knudsen, H. Kofod, A. Lernmark and C. J. Hedeskov

Column perifusion of collagenase-isolated mouse pancreatic islets was used to study the dynamics of insulin release in experiments lasting for several hours. The methyl esters of L-leucine and L-arginine were synthesized. Whereas L-arginine methyl ester (L-arginine OMe) had no effect, L-leucine OMe stimulated the release of insulin. The effect of L-leucine OMe was maximal at 5 mmol/liter. Whereas the Km for glucose-stimulated insulin release was unaffected by 1 mmol/liter L-leucine OMe, the maximal release of D-glucose was increased by the amino acid derivative that appeared more effective than L-leucine. L-Leucine OMe was also a potent stimulus of insulin release from the perfused mouse pancreas. In the presence of 10 mmol/liter L-glutamine, 1 mmol/liter L-leucine OMe induced a 50- to 75-fold increase in insulin release. A similar stimulatory effect was also observed in column-perifused RIN 5F cells, a cloned rat islet tumor cell line. A twofold increase in islet glutamate dehydrogenase activity was induced by 5 mmol/liter L-leucine OMe, a larger effect than that of L-leucine (P less than 0.02), whereas L-arginine OMe had a small inhibitory effect. We conclude that L-leucine OMe is a potent stimulus of insulin secretion and that its effect on the beta-cells may be exerted by activating islet glutamate dehydrogenase.

Performance Research for April : Central Fatigue during Exercise part 2

2009-04-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

More info for yas on why do you actually stop a heavy training set, high intensity exercise etc.

I have some comments to get to yet on the treadmill post, so hang in there with me. Excellent comments by all and much appreciated!

I am excited that I have 7 exercise tests for the Energy Drink study in the lab this week, which brings me closer to wrapping up the data collection portion, although it equals more cat naps in my car and more coffee.

Congrats to all the new RKCs that passed this past weekend! Sorry I was not able to stop down there, but excellent work! If anyone is around here for the next one and is interested in a Z Health session to optimize your performance, drop me a line---first come first serve.

On to the studies....

Voluntary activation and cortical activity during a sustained maximal contraction: an fMRI study.

Post M, Steens A, Renken R, Maurits NM, Zijdewind I. Department of Medical Physiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Marijn.post@med.umcg.nl

Motor fatigue is an exercise-induced reduction in the force-generating capacity. The underlying mechanisms can be separated into factors residing in the periphery or in the central nervous system. We designed an experiment in which we investigated central processes underlying motor fatigue by means of magnetic resonance imaging in combination with the twitch interpolation technique. Subjects performed a sustained maximal abduction (2 min) with the right index finger. Brain activation was recorded with an MR scanner, together with index finger abduction force, EMG of several hand muscles and interpolated twitches.

Mean activity per volume was calculated for the primary motor cortex and the secondary motor areas (supplementary motor, premotor, and cingulate areas) as well as mean force and mean rectified EMG amplitude. Results showed a progressive decline in maximal index finger abduction force and EMG of the target muscles combined with an increase in brain activity in the contralateral primary motor cortex and secondary motor areas. Analysis of the twitches superimposed on the sustained contraction revealed that during the contraction the voluntary drive decreased significantly.

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our data showed that despite an increase in brain activity the voluntary activation decreased. This suggests that, although the central nervous system increased its input to the relevant motor areas, this increase was insufficient to overcome fatigue-related changes in the voluntary drive.

My Notes: Hmmm, perhaps we are seeing a blend of peripheral and central fatigue out in the really real world?

Estimation of critical torque using intermittent isometric maximal voluntary contractions of the quadriceps in humans.

Burnley M. Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, United Kingdom. mhb@aber.ac.uk

To determine whether the asymptote of the torque-duration relationship (critical torque) could be estimated from the torque measured at the end of a series of maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) of the quadriceps, eight healthy men performed eight laboratory tests. Following familiarization, subjects performed two tests in which they were required to perform 60 isometric MVCs over a period of 5 min (3 s contraction, 2 s rest), and five tests involving intermittent isometric contractions at approximately 35-60% MVC, each performed to task failure. Critical torque was determined using linear regression of the torque impulse and contraction time during the submaximal tests, and the end-test torque during the MVCs was calculated from the mean of the last six contractions of the test.

During the MVCs voluntary torque declined from 263.9 +/- 44.6 to 77.8 +/- 17.8 N x m. The end-test torque was not different from the critical torque (77.9 +/- 15.9 N x m; 95% paired-sample confidence interval, -6.5 to 6.2 N x m). The root mean squared error of the estimation of critical torque from the end-test torque was 7.1 N x m. Twitch interpolation showed that voluntary activation declined from 90.9 +/- 6.5% to 66.9 +/- 13.1% (P < style="font-weight: bold;">indicating the development of both central and peripheral fatigue.

CONCLUSION: These data indicate that fatigue during 5 min of intermittent isometric maximal voluntary contractions of the quadriceps leads to an end-test torque that closely approximates the critical torque.

My notes: see my comment above!

Active Release Technique (ART), Z Health, Hands on Work (Massage, Guided Exericse)

2009-04-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

What are your thoughts about ART?

This was a good question that I received about 3 times in the past week, so I thought I would address it here.

It is a general question, so I will answer it in relation to general prinicples. Again, everything needs to be custom to the athletes that you work with of course.

For more info, click the links below

Get Off the Foam Roller

Myth Busters-Painful Soft Tissue Work

Some have believed based on my posts above that I am against soft tissue/hands on work; and that is not true at all. I am against PAINFUL soft tissue work!

All of the ART therapists that I have met so far have been great and extremely knowledgeable. Some do painful soft tissue work and others do not (although they are much less common). I don't believe pain is needed to get a result and will actually diminish your results. You are normally seeing an ART person to get out of pain or change a motor pattern/pain.

Don't try to blow up the safe when you just need the correct combination to open the door.

Here is another great post by Carl Valle at Elite Track and my response to it.

Soft Tissue Therapy by Carl Valle (click the title to open it)

My response to Carl.

Hi there Carl! Thanks for the kinds words as it means a lot coming from someone such as yourself.

In relation to experience with athletes that is an excellent point. To date, I have done a fair amount of Z Health sessions (I do have the exact number documented and not pulled out of thin air if you need further info).

Note that when I say Z Health this may apply to dynamic joint mobility work, visual testing/movements, vestibular work or even hands on work (which means that I am holding
tissue/joint/muscle in a specific orientation while they perform an exercise).

I agree that most of these are not what would be considered high level athletes and more weekend warriors types. I was able do a session with a recent Olympic competitor and was able to get her out of pain for the first time in years (see link below)

Z Health and Marathon Running

The same principles would apply to high level athletes.

I agree 100% that soft tissue work done correctly can have HUGE changes for people. No question about that!

You point about most businesses is a good one. I do run a business in the private sector.

Clients/athletes come to a professional in the field for results. My guarantee is that if I can’t get your pain to less than a 2 on a 1-10 scale in ONE session, it is FREE. No results=no money for me=out of business.

Down with foam rollers! Preach on.

Yes, there is research on eccentric stimuli to help encourage remodeling, esp in the case of
tendonOSIS as you know. I like to think upstream—-what causes tension on the muscles/tendons?

Control from the nervous system, so if we can alter that signal, over time the structures will adapt.

Carl said “..but the direct approach WITH motor changes and other elements is a full approach.”

Yes! I have had cases where I’ve needed to do hands on (touch an athlete just as you would touch them to guide them during an exericse) to get a result. In one specific case I held the hamstrings in a specific orientation with the athlete doing an opposite elbow circle (joint mobility), with her head turned to the right and eyes in the up position.

Her hamstrings worked much better afterward and total time of the drill was about 1 minute (getting to that point was about 40 minutes in that case though). She had to follow up and do a similar drill (without hands on work) 3xs a day for about 3-4 weeks for it to “stick”—there is never a free lunch

In general, I do the minimal approach to get the maximal results. Precise joint mobility work seems to get me there about 70% of the time ( I mean 72.8958859% of the time, hehee). The more times I work with athletes and as their movement progresses, the more other work they will need—hands on (guided exercises), visual (eyes held in a specific position), and vestibular (head motions) ; but with all things “it depends” as I may skip around depending on the client. I like to start simple and then only add complexity when the simple looking things do not work.

I hope that answers the ART question!

Any follow up points, thoughts, clarifications, please post them in the comments below.
Thanks!
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for April : Central Fatigue and Exercise part 1

2009-04-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

Treadmill Update
I updated the post the other day in an attempt to better explain my treadmill thoughts; so go back and check it out if you have not done so

Get Off the Treadmill!

General Update
All is going well, just stupid busy and up at 4:30am tomorrow for more testing again in the lab for my Energy Drink study, which is good. Getting close to the end now.

Some new studies for all of you related to central/peripheral fatigue. Enjoy and see my comments below each one.

Fatigue alters in vivo function within and between limb muscles during locomotion.

Higham TE, Biewener AA. Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 132 Long Hall, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. thigham@clemson.edu

Muscle fatigue, a reduction in force as a consequence of exercise, is an important factor for any animal that moves, and can result from both peripheral and/or central mechanisms. Although much is known about whole-limb force generation and activation patterns in fatigued muscles under sustained isometric contractions, little is known about the in vivo dynamics of limb muscle function in relation to whole-body fatigue. Here we show that limb kinematics and contractile function in the lateral (LG) and medial (MG) gastrocnemius of helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) are significantly altered following fatiguing exercise at 2ms-1 on an inclined treadmill.

The two most significant findings were that the variation in muscle force generation, measured directly from the muscles' tendons, increased significantly with fatigue, and fascicle shortening in the proximal MG, but not the distal MG, decreased significantly with fatigue. We suggest that the former is a potential mechanism for decreased stability associated with fatigue. The region-specific alteration of fascicle behaviour within the MG as a result of fatigue suggests a complex response to fatigue that probably depends on muscle-aponeurosis and tendon architecture not previously explored.

CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the importance of studying the integrative in vivo dynamics of muscle function in response to fatigue.

My Notes: This study shows once again that studies done in isolation and in a petri dish may not (heck, are usually) not the same as those done in the whole body. Everything affects everything in the body. Dr. Cobb likes to say "all the body, all the time"

Brain activation in multiple sclerosis: a BOLD fMRI study of the effects of fatiguing hand exercise.

White A, Lee J, Light A, Light K. Department of Exercise & Sport Science and Brain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

BackgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) patients experience fatigue as a chronic symptom that decreases quality of life. Commonly, fatigue in MS patients is manifested as decreased motor function during or after physical activity and is associated with changes in brain metabolism.ObjectiveTo determine brain activation patterns in MS patients and healthy controls during a simple motor task before and after fatiguing hand-grip exercise.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were conducted on 10 MS patients and 13 healthy controls during 4-finger flexion and extension in rested and fatigued states.

ResultsBefore the fatigue protocol, MS patients had greater activation in the contralateral primary motor cortex, insula, and cingulate gyrus than controls. Following fatiguing exercise, controls showed increased activation of precentral gyrus and insula while patients did not show any activation increases and actually decreased activity to the insula.

CONCLUSION: Results indicate that before fatiguing exercise, MS patients marshaled more brain activation compared to controls, which may represent functionally adaptive changes in response to demyelination. This increased activation may suggest that patients require more effort to perform even simple motor tasks, possibly because peripheral or central signals for fatigue are chronically enhanced. When fatigued further by muscle contraction, brain activation cannot be further increased.

My Notes: Sounds like the brain is having to work over time to attempt to make up for this difference. I would expect to see changes in the brain and coordination patterns then long term.

Mechanisms of fatigue induced by isometric contractions in exercising humans and in mouse isolated single muscle fibres.

Place N, Bruton JD, Westerblad H. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. nicolas.place@ki.se

1. Muscle fatigue (i.e. the decrease in muscle performance during exercise) has been studied extensively using a variety of experimental paradigms, from mouse to human, from single cell to whole-body exercise. Given the disparity of models used to characterize muscle fatigue, it can be difficult to establish whether the results of basic in vitro studies are applicable to exercise in humans. 2. In the present brief review, our attempt is to relate neuromuscular alterations caused by repeated or sustained isometric contraction in humans to changes in excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling observed in intact single muscle fibres, where force and the free myoplasmic [Ca(2+)] can be measured. 3. Accumulated data indicate that impairment of E-C coupling, most likely located within muscle fibres, accounts for the fatigue-induced decrease in maximal force in humans, whereas central (neural) fatigue is of greater importance for the inability to continue a sustained low-intensity contraction.

Based on data from intact single muscle fibres, the fatigue-induced impairment in E-C coupling involves: (i) a reduced number of active cross-bridges owing to a decreased release of Ca(2+); (ii) a decreased sensitivity of the myofilaments to Ca(2+); and/or (iii) a reduced force produced by each active cross-bridge. 4.

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, data from single muscle fibre studies can be used to increase our understanding of fatigue mechanisms in some, but not all, types of human exercise. To further increase the understanding of fatigue mechanisms in humans, we propose future studies using in vitro stimulation patterns that are closer to the in vivo situation.

My Notes: Um, see my comments above about in vitro (petri dish/bench testing) and in vivio (in the body testing). The reality is that research is a back and forth method or in the clinical world they call it "bench top to bed side"

Get Off the Treadmill!

2009-04-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

The "Get Off" series continues (add your own bad joke here_____)

Seems like the past one about foam rollers was like poking a hornet's nest with a big stick; so it should be interesting to see what happens here.

In case you missed the first installment, see the post below

Get Off the Foam Roller

Stay the heck off the darn treadmill!

I find it incredibly odd that when I used to lift at a commercial gym that people would circle the parking lot for several minutes to find a close parking spot only to go in and get on a treadmill. What? Why don't you just leave your car at home and walk to the gym? Yeah I know there are tons of reasons why this may not be practical, but buy a kettlebell (see the dragon link on the upper right hand side) and get some expert instruction from a local RKC and you are on your way. Yes, you can train your CRF (cardiorespiratory fitness aka "cardio") by using a KB.

If you want more details, see the post below where I challenged Carl Lanore at Super Human Radio about his treadmill usage.

Z Health, Proprioception, Neuroplasticity all on Super Human Radio

Why are treadmills bad news bears?
In short, when you are on a treadmill, your joints are telling your brain you are moving; but the eyes tell your brain--no you are not moving you idiot because you are in the same darn place that you were 20 minutes ago! I think this causes some massive confusion with your nervous system and a decrease in performance.

Just watching people walk off a treadmill in any gym---they look like Ted Kennedy after a late night bender.

If people want more treadmill information, this is one of the many topics covered in the Z Health R Phase Certification; so drop me a line for information.

Editor's Note: (I add the following portion in an attempt to better explain myself. I appreciate the comments!).

I am not against exercise at all. I've spend the better part of the past 17 years (yikes, I can't believe I started college in 1992, ugh) studying physiology/engineering in some form. If someone could put the benefits of exercise in a pill, it would be the best selling drug in history almost over night.

Like all things, I believe there is a correct way and a wrong way to do things. Keep in mind that all forms of exercise have a COST. No free lunch. The cost of doing treadmill work I believe is making your muscles weaker (I will be working on a video to demo this in the next few weeks). The cost of attempting a very heavy deadlift with piss poor form may be a back issue. The correct exercise for your body, done correctly will still cost you fuel (think food) to perform it. You get the idea.

The gait (walking/running pattern) on a treadmill is very close to what we would normally do on flat, non moving ground and this compounds the issue. From many studies, we know that if a major league baseball pitcher decided to throw a baseball that is even just a little bit heavier for his training, it would completely screw up his pitching. Some coaches have completely ruined athlete's careers by doing this! The motor learning process is very precise and using a heavier ball for pitching has a negative transfer to his pitching with a regulation ball.

I think the treadmill is too close to our normal gait and seems to have a negative transfer. Other modes of cardio don't seem to do this probably because they are different enough; so bikes (even stationary ones) don't seem to be an issue and most weight lifting is fine also.

It is a free country and nobody any time soon is going to take your treadmill away from you. You are free to use it, I just ask that people keep careful records to make sure it does not have any negative transfer to them (decrease in performance).

Chasing someone around with a metabolic cart to complete a study would be a total pain in the butt, I agree completely. So far to date I've done over 150 exercise tests and I am glad I don't have to chase anyone around (although there are systems to do that). The cardiorespiratory response appears to be fine as anything that uses lots of muscles in a rhythmic fashion will work.

We know so much about CRF since it is much easier to study then strength and even athletic performance in the lab.

Back to the blog again. If people are interested, I am working on a longer version of this based off the many research studies that I pulled. Not sure when it will be done though.

Below are some great treadmill videos for your viewing pleasure that I stole off of Eric Cressey's blog.

I had this one in a presentation years ago---one of my favs!

The rise of "functional treadmill training" Challenge your balance!

Comments? Let me know and post them below.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans

2009-04-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

FLzine
I just finished an interview with the fine folks at FLzine.com. I will give you all a heads up once the interview is posted. In it I discuss more mobility fun, why static stretching sucks, and much more.

Mental Fatigue Impairs Performance
Here is something that I have wondered about for years, but until recently never found any data.

When I started working in Technical Services for a major medical device company after my first 7.5 years in college many years ago in a galaxy far far away, I would get grilled all day answering calls from patients, reps, nurse and doctors. They ranged from Ethel that was too close to her microwave and she was trying to hide around the corner closing the door with a broomstick (microwaves and pacemakers are not an issue) to a physician at a device implant who is calling about a certain feature and you can hear the monitors in the background beeping.

I could not understand why I was so tired once I got home even though I sat no my butt all day! Part of this was from just not moving around much at all, but perhaps part of it was "mental fatigue"?

On to the Study
The nice part was the study below was a crossover design, so each subject acted as their own control. This allows you to use less subjects overall as you are only comparing 2 different conditions changes; so one with mental fatigue and the other without.

While it has been argued that a bike to exhaustion is not similar to a time trial format, the vast majority of evidence has been collected using that format. Time trials can be altered too by the subjects (esp. non competitive athletes) learning to pace themselves better.

The performance decrease did not appear to be from the heart/lungs (cardiorespiratory) or muscles! It appears to be all in your head indeed!

If anyone has watched lots of exercise tests to exhaustion will tell you, you need to be very careful what you say to them during a test. I always make it a point to explain everything up front and remind them that it is a max test. Once the test is over half way, I only use encouragement and do not give one group an "option" to quit. My guess is that if someone is working very hard (RPE of a 9 out of 10) and you reminded them that they can stop at any point now because the test is on a volunteer basis, many would just stop even though physically their numbers may be the same!

Other trials have attempted to get around this by giving money for the top performance to make it more competitive.

No mater how you cut it, endurance events at a high level are much about pain management.

Thoughts on the study? Let me know by posting a comment
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans

Samuele M. Marcora, Walter Staiano, and Victoria Manning School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, United Kingdom Submitted 4 October 2008 ; accepted in final form 5 January 2009

Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity. Although the impact of mental fatigue on cognitive and skilled performance is well known, its effect on physical performance has not been thoroughly investigated. In this randomized crossover study, 16 subjects cycled to exhaustion at 80% of their peak power output after 90 min of a demanding cognitive task (mental fatigue) or 90 min of watching emotionally neutral documentaries (control). After experimental treatment, a mood questionnaire revealed a state of mental fatigue (P = 0.005) that significantly reduced time to exhaustion (640 ± 316 s) compared with the control condition (754 ± 339 s) (P = 0.003).

This negative effect was not mediated by cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic factors as physiological responses to intense exercise remained largely unaffected. Self-reported success and intrinsic motivation related to the physical task were also unaffected by prior cognitive activity. However, mentally fatigued subjects rated perception of effort during exercise to be significantly higher compared with the control condition (P = 0.007). As ratings of perceived exertion increased similarly over time in both conditions (P < style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our study provides experimental evidence that mental fatigue limits exercise tolerance in humans through higher perception of effort rather than cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic mechanisms. Future research in this area should investigate the common neurocognitive resources shared by physical and mental activity.

Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC) April 2009 Update

2009-04-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Back on Track A Bit
I've been holed up in the lab testing subjects and running data like a crazy person so that I can graduate this summer, so updates here have been a bit more sparse. If you sent me an email, I got it and will get back to you soon. I appreciate your patience and understanding! Training updates on Mike T Nelson Training will be hit and miss for a bit too as my first priority is to DO the training and then worry about getting it up online.

Onwards and upwards to the TSC update. Blogger munched my first copy of this, so that added a bit more time to it also.

TSC April 4, 2009 at Kinetic Edge Performance, Minnesota

It was TSC time again and as promised, here are my results.

Deadlift
Weighed in at 204.8 lbs

DL warm ups went find and 0pened at 345 lbs --easy.

I was going to do 375, but 345 was easy so opted for 385 lbs.

385 missed---the bar was too far in front I think and my left knee came in a bit.
385 missed--got it further (mid shin or so) but no dice.

I was pretty pissed off that I changed my mind, but if I wold have gotten 385 I would have been ok; so that is the way it goes. I am working on NOT attaching negative emotions to my lifts--it is only feedback and I know what I need to work on now and I will be back at previous levels soon enough. I did 365lbs in training relatively easily.

Deadlift video below

Pullups
The only work I did for these was just Z Health work since they tested poor and I did lots of visualization work I needed to get a new pullup bar for my garage gym, which I did but I was so slammed that I did not have time to even get it mounted. bugger.

Got 2, almost 3--could not get the last 2 inches, which pissed me off (I mean, more feedback). Goal was set at 4. These were done Elite style, so bodyweight plus 22 lbs. Pullups, so palms face away (not chin ups).

Pull up video below featuring myself and Adam T Glass

Snatch test
Warmed up and snatches felt awesome and tested even better than ever. I knew I was going to hit my numbers.

Elite style again with the 32 kg (70 lb) Kettlebell (KB). Nailed 75 reps with 10 seconds left, could not pick up the KB to even attempt one more in the last few seconds.

I plotted out my reps and rest periods and wrote them in ink on my left arm, so that I would not have to remember them and I could know where I was at during the test since I had not done a full 5 minute recently. Form stayed quite good too. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was pushed and cooked for sure, although I recovered relatively quick from it once I was done.

Lately it seems like my HRR (HR recovery) is better which is good, just need more specific work for CRF.

TSC Elite Snatch video below featuring Mike T Nelson, Mark Wilson, Brad "No Relation" Nelson, and Adam T Glass

Overall
I am pretty happy considering at the start of March of this year (about 4 weeks prior) I was at
DL 345 lbs--barely made it
PUs--? never was able to test them
32 kg Snatches 39 reps (RPE 9) in 5 minutes.

Only a little bit of DOMS in my mid back and forearms, although tired--last week was friggin nuts. Friday I was up at 5:10 am and got back to my place for the first time at 10:30pm--not ideal, but that is life.

My deadlift is still off from my PR of 405 lbs, but I will be back up there in 6-8 weeks. I only really had 1 month to train for the TSC due to my crazy bruised hip. I am glad I still did it as I know I made more progress in that month than if I decided not to show up.

Onward and upward!

After the TSC, a bunch of us headed next door to a great cafe and it was time to eat! I ordered up a few eggs, hashbrowns, blackened walleye fillet, toast and a huge cookie dough pancake. It was awesome! Adam looked over at the two huge plates of food and said, "Yikes, where are you going to put all of that?" ha!

A few of us hung around for the killer seminar that Adam T Glass and B-Rad gave! It was AWESOME and more on that soon. For those that did not show, you missed out on perhaps the best value in training advice this whole year as the seminar was only 60 clams. Money very well spent!

TSC April 2009 Wrap Up
I want to send a HUGE shout out and congrats to ALL that SHOWED UP! Many talk the talk but few put it on the line and show up. Congrats to all that did!!! Very cool to see 4 people at Kinetic Edge Performance doing it Elite style too! Yeahhhhh buddy.....

I was a disappointed to see a low turnout with only 7 showing up, but I expect more in Sept.

Seriously, this is an event that everyone can participant in (there is a novice class now too) as it is a great blend of max strength, relative strength and strength/"Cardio"

If you want to get in "better shape" sign up now and start training. As Adam pointed out in his seminar, "better shape" is a very amorphous, slippery goal. What does that mean? Translate it into number for the TSC and go for it! Get some basic instruction and you will be AMAZED at what you can do! And the event is totally positive and FREE. Everyone was there to help each other.

If you are unsure about how to train for the TSC, see myself, Brad Nelson, Adam T Glass, Mark Wilson or any great trainer in your area today. Check out their websites below (note, I have them actually listed now)

Adam T Glass: The Road Less Traveled

Brad Rants

Mark Wilson RKC

Here is a deadlift montage from the TSC this year (sorry I missed your lift Kathy).

Any comments, bring 'em. I also want to hear who is going to nut up and sign up for the Sept TSC! The time is NOW

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Amazing Ab Training and More Kettlebell Crap on the Biggest Loser

2009-04-08T14:52:00.000-07:00

This cracks me up!

I can't believe I hung out with those yahoos all last Saturday---it was killer!

We had a great post TSC sessions and I learned tons! Videos coming soon in the next few weeks.

Check out Adam's message about the roundtable session that went down. Where were you?

Ever been hit so hard that all you see is White?

Adam stated ""How is it, that after doing a TSC and a 20 minute strongman demonstration, Turning my wrist in four directions allows me to slam a #3?" After all that work? Usually i am kind of tired...this is deep......"

More Kettlebells on TV: Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels Kettlebell Fiasco

Brad has a great video on his blog about this one

Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels Fails Miserably with Kettlebells

The bastardization of kettlebell training marches on! Ugh. I've blogged about this in the past

Kettleworx Crap and Performance Research for March: Fat Loss-Diet and Green Tea

Kettleworx As Seen on KARE 11 TV Can Kiss My....

I would agree whole heartedly with Brad. Kettlebells are great, but get some instruction! Get at least 1 session at min as it is better than none! I personally love the Dragon Door KBs (see the link on the upper right hand side to get your own). Yes, I do make a few clams from selling them, but they are the only ones I currently use and I love them. Once you have them, they will last a lifetime. Don't waste your money some PLASTIC KBs. Yikes. The weights that they start at are pathetic. You can do more than you think with correct instruction. You need to give your body a REASON to change and a 6 lb plastic KB will NOT get the job done.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Andy Bolton New Deadlift World Record

2009-04-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is some uber crazy weight coming up. 8 lbs over 1,000 lbs. Amazing.

I stole the video below from Conditioning Research, so you should go check out his blog right now--excellent stuff there.

Notice how easy he makes the warm ups look. He is throwing around weight that is past my max! Every rep looks almost identical.

Andy Bolton's new world deadlift record of 457.5kg (which is 1008.6 lbs). 3rd lift at the South East Powerlifting Championships, promoted by the Gallery Gym, Windsor and held at the Thames Valley Athletics Club in Eton

Congrats on a new world record.

Pain is Bad for Performance: New Study on Shoulder Pain

2009-04-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am sure everyone is tired of hearing me yack about how bad pain is for performance and proper muscle coordination. If you have missed my tyrants in the past, see the following by clicking on them

Biomechanics of Musculoskeletal Pain and A Shot to the Nuts

Pain and Performance

In this study, they created pain in healthy people and then saw that it decreased shoulder muscle activity. The researchers stated,

"During abduction, experimentally induced pain in the supraspinatus muscle caused a significant decrease in activity of the anterior deltoid, upper trapezius and the infraspinatus and an increase in activity of lower trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles."

The body is showing an arthrokinetic reflex where it is working to protect the joint by starting to shut down the muscles around it. Makes sense since your body is survival based, not performance based. You can get an increase in performance by increasing the ability of it to survive. This is a basic concept taught in Z Health R Phase.

Mobility drills (like Z Health) can be used to correct the joints and thus muscular function.

For maximal performance, get out of pain. A vast majority of the time, better movement = less pain.

Below is the full study

The influence of experimentally induced pain on shoulder muscle activity

Louise Pyndt Diederichsen1, 4, 5 Contact Information, Annika Winther1, Poul Dyhre-Poulsen2, Michael R. Krogsgaard3 and Jesper Nørregaard1
(1) Institute of Sports Medicine-Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
(2) Department for Medical Physiology, Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
(3) Department of Orthopaedic Surgery M, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
(4) Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Odense Universitetshospital, Sdr. Boulevard 29, 5000 Odense C, Denmark
(5) Lodsvej 25A, 5270 Odense N, Denmark

Abstract
Muscle function is altered in painful shoulder conditions. However, the influence of shoulder pain on muscle coordination of the shoulder has not been fully clarified. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of experimentally induced shoulder pain on shoulder muscle function.

Eleven healthy men (range 22–27 years), with no history of shoulder or cervical problems, were included in the study. Pain was induced by 5% hypertonic saline injections into the supraspinatus muscle or subacromially. Seated in a shoulder machine, subjects performed standardized concentric abduction (0°–105°) at a speed of approximately 120°/s, controlled by a metronome.

During abduction, electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded by intramuscular wire electrodes inserted in two deeply located shoulder muscles and by surface-electrodes over six superficially located shoulder muscles.

EMG was recorded before pain, during pain and after pain had subsided and pain intensity was continuously scored on a visual analog scale (VAS). During abduction, experimentally induced pain in the supraspinatus muscle caused a significant decrease in activity of the anterior deltoid, upper trapezius and the infraspinatus and an increase in activity of lower trapezius and latissimus dorsi muscles. Following subacromial injection a significantly increased muscle activity was seen in the lower trapezius, the serratus anterior and the latissimus dorsi muscles.

In conclusion, this study shows that acute pain both subacromially and in the supraspinatus muscle modulates coordination of the shoulder muscles during voluntary movements. During painful conditions, an increased activity was detected in the antagonist (latissimus), which support the idea that localized pain affects muscle activation in a way that protects the painful structure.

Further, the changes in muscle activity following subacromial pain induction tend to expand the subacromial space and thereby decrease the load on the painful structures.

Failure? Feedback?

2009-04-05T20:30:00.000-07:00

TSC Update
I will have a full update and videos very soon. Thanks to B-Rad for hosting, everyone that came out and Adam T Glass for the demonstration and all the great information at the post TSC seminar. Excellent exchange of ideas and the best 60 clams for a strength clinic I have spent in a long, long time. Nice work!!

Failure?
I did a post below awhile back about my thoughts on failure. The take away is that many things are neither good or bad, it is us that attaches an emotional tag to it. Feedback in and of itself is not"good" or "bad" it just helps point us in the right direction.

Very cool video that Kyle Battis sent out recently.

Here is an older post I did on this.

Failing Forward

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Random Thoughts Friday: Shoes, Mobility, and ACSM

2009-04-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

I was up at the butt crack of dawn again (5:15AM) to run to the lab for some more testing on the effects of Energy Drinks, but I am over the halfway point--yeah!!!

Iron Radio TODAY!
Periodizing Training & Nutrition

EVENT: Iron Radio With Mike T Nelson
DATE & TIME: Friday, April 3rd at 2:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast -- it's your choice)
Topic: "Periodizing Training & Nutrition"
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW...
http://instantTeleseminar.com/...eventid=6770136

Random Thoughts
So all the cool kids are doing random thoughts, so I thought I would hop on the bandwagon. It will be a good way to get out some stuff in my blogger file that is probably not quite big enough for an article and if I get lots of questions of something I can then turn it into an article. Last time I checked I have >200 random things in there. Yikes.

1) My favorites shoes for training "The smarter the shoe, the dumber the foot" --Eric Cressey? Dr Cobb?

Not sure who I heard that one from first, but I totally agree. The short version is this

Train your feet for mobility first, then strength

Find a shoe that is as minimal as possible to prevent it from adapting the wrong direction.

Stiff shoes= stiff feet = messed up movement

Don't even get me started on high heals--horrible (any female readers I had just left. Drat)

My favorite shoes are shown below, the Tai-Chi Onistuka Tigers as worn in Kill Bill.

They are completely flat on the bottom, minimal support, although good lateral support for speed work and great grippy sole. I love them. My gait normally tests great in them too.

CSS is one of the only places you can find them and they are currently out of the yellow and black, but they are having a vote on the next style they are going to run, so vote HERE Do me a favor and vote for the black/whites ones as the other ones are U.G.L.Y

2) The last album from Scar Symmetry is amazing!
I am still listening to this CD almost daily after having it for over 5 months now. Amazing metal release and my fav of all last year. Check out the video below (note, a few seconds of possibly borderline non work friendly shots at times as a heads up)

Who says metal is not intelligent? Lyrics below for ya too

Lyrics | Scar Symmetry Lyrics | Morphogenesis Lyrics

3) The ACSM Annual Meeting Advance Program Available

Yes, I am a huge geek and have a whole vacation planned around the ACSM Conference coming up in late May. I presented a poster there last year and it was actually very good and much better than I expected (I thought it was going to be all cardio bunnies yacking about how running and aerobic training are the greatest thing ever; but it was not at all).

See below for notes from last year

ACSM Random Updates

If anyone is interested in an ebook about the latest in performance enhancement from the conference, drop me an email or place a comment below.
Email me by clicking here

Here is what they are saying about the meeting this year.

With a record-number of abstracts and more than 200 sessions, ACSM's 56th Annual Meeting promises to provide an exceptional array of cutting-edge science and clinical sessions. Check out the blend of expert speakers from around the globe, symposia and exhibits in the Advance Program by clicking HERE

If you are going to be at ACSM, let me know!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Testimonial Time, TSC 2009 Training and Lessons Learned

2009-04-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

Testimonial Time!

I had the pleasure of working with Kevin Kocos recently here at the University of Minnesota (go Gophers!!). Kevin works with the men’s track and field team, women’s gymnastics and men’s and women’s golf teams and also assists with men’s and women’s hockey and men’s basketball here at Minnesota. Before coming to Minnesota he completed a year-long internship with the Chicago Bulls. During his time in Chicago, Kevin worked with Bulls players as well as assisted in screening athletes for the NBA draft. Kevin also worked with private clients in high school and college athletics as well as the NHL.

Before his time in Chicago, Kevin completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. At La Crosse he worked with athletes of several sports but worked most closely with the men’s and women’s swim team as well as the women’s soccer team. Kevin also enjoys competing in Olympic Weightlifting.

As a Strength and Conditioning Coach, consulting with Mike T. Nelson is something I try to do as often as possible since I always learn something new I can apply to my athletes. Mike takes a very comprehensive approach and is relentless in staying on the cutting edge in strength training and fitness. His ability to apply his knowledge to each individual makes him a great asset in the field. Just learning a few his drills from the Z Health Warmup helped my left glute start firing, after it had been inhibited for some time.

Kevin Kocos, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Minnesota

Thanks again Kevin and I look forward to working with you again very soon as I always learn something new also.

The Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC) this Sat April 4.

The TSC is
1 RM (rep max) deadlift
pullups (max continuous, Elite BW +25 lbs)
max number of reps of KB snatches in 5 min, 24 kg (Elite 32kg aka 70 lb )

Here are my posts from the previous TSC

Model Integrity and Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC)

TSC results and update Sept 8, 2007

I did not do the TSC this past Nov since I was slammed with work, research, etc I made a promise that I would do it in Spring.

Well, Spring 2009 rolled around and I was not wanting to do it. I did the Z Health Master Trainer Eval and that took more time than I expect and then days after returning from that, I fell in a broomball game and managed to bruise my sciatic nerve (details below)

I'm back

At this point I really did not want to do the TSC since I wanted to break my old PR (personal records) and not do less than them.

I realized that this was backwards thinking! I needed a goal and a time line and even if I would perhaps miss breaking my PR, I would still make more progres than letting it slide until Sept again--a whole year later from the last time I missed.

So I started rehabbing my hip and doing what I could.

I had a break down in about late Feb and wanted to drop out again. All my lifts had dropped by a lot since I needed to let my hip heal first and not lift in pain, plus I was swamped with everything else going on--research, work, business blah blah blah. I realized that I had the TSC as one of my goals of 2009 and had sent it to my entire email list. Uh oh.

I hired a coach for a new program on 3/3/09 at the 11th hour to pull my lifts up.
Here are the results below so far

3_31 Tues KB snatch and DL--TSC prep

3_3 to 3_26 Thurs DL and KB Snatch: TSC prep

Now I just have a few more days before the TSC and we will see how it goes and I feel pretty confident that I will set at least 1 PR and hopefully more.

Lessons Learned (aka read this part)

1) I am really similar to everyone else and subject to all the same pitfalls too of course! Knowledge does not always equal action.

2) Get a coach! Everyone needs a coach. I need a coach and so do YOU. Does Tiger Woods think he can coach his own golf game? Nope? Did Michael Jordan have a coach? Yep. You get the idea.

3) Set goals, go for it and have others hold you accountable. I did not want to email my newsletter and say "Yeah, I did not even show up for the TSC" Ugh. Who is in your social support network? Many times, this is the main job of a trainer--ACCOUNTABILITY since as Henry Rollins says, "....will always kick you the real deal"

So what are you waiting for? What are your goals? The time is NOW and get to it!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

PS
Even if you are not competing, go visit the TSC near you and if you are in Minnesota come on out to Kinetic Edge Performance and sign up or at least watch. Details below from B-Rad

Tactical Strength Challenge & Hard Core Strength Clinic

Stop Static Stretching: New Research

2009-04-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Up On The Soapbox Again
The loyal readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of static stretching. I can't understand why you would put a muscle (and joints) at an extreme range of motion (ROM) and wait there for the muscles to get WEAKER. I don't want to teach my body that!

I want to have STRENGTH at an END range of motion.

Remember, your body is uber smart and is CONSTANTLY adapting, so what do you want it to adapt to? This goes for you desk jockeys too cranking your necks to read this screen, so sit up straight (yes Mom), but please do keep reading.

Why Do People Static Stretch?
I think people still do static stretching to some degree because they have nothing else to replace it with.

Here is the big revelation
You can replace all static stretching with precise joint mobility work (insert Z Health plug here).

Even dynamic mobility drills are much better than static stretching.

On a personal note, I have not done any static stretching for almost 2 years now and I have less pain, more mobility and increased strength (in most exercises) than I ever have before. I know, anecdotal, self reported, n=1.

What To Do Now?
Here is a video showing a hip flexor stretch, then an active mobility drill for the OPPOSITE shoulder. At the end he does a hip flexor stretch again to note the new change in range of motion (see for yourself).

If you are interested in the Z Health R Phase, you can pick it up by clicking on the icon on the upper right. Full disclosure: I do make a few bucks off each sale, but the price is the same to you and I would never recommend anything that sucks.

Here is another brand new study looking at static stretching. If you are still insisting upon doing it, the data below would say that if you are lifting 30 minutes after stretching the reduction in max force will be pretty much gone. I would still like to see people replace static stretching with mobility work.

See these related posts below

The Death of Static Stretching

Human tendon behaviour and adaptation, in vivo.

Stretching and Resistance Training and Tendon Effects

Static Stretching--Good or Bad?

Here is the abstract

Moderate-duration static stretch reduces active and passive plantar flexor moment but not Achilles tendon stiffness or active muscle length

Anthony D. Kay1,2 and Anthony J. Blazevich2,3

J Appl Physiol 106: 1249-1256, 2009. First published January 29, 2009;

1Sport, Exercise and Life Sciences, The University of Northampton, Northampton; 2Centre for Sports Medicine and Human Performance. Brunel University, Uxbridge, United Kingdom; and 3School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Western Australia

The effects of static stretch on muscle and tendon mechanical properties and muscle activation were studied in fifteen healthy human volunteers. Peak active and passive moment data were recorded during plantar flexion trials on an isokinetic dynamometer. Electromyography (EMG) monitoring of the triceps surae muscles, real-time motion analysis of the lower leg, and ultrasound imaging of the Achilles-medial gastrocnemius muscle-tendon junction were simultaneously conducted.

Subjects performed three 60-s static stretches before being retested 2 min and 30 min poststretch.

There were three main findings in the present study.

First, peak concentric moment was significantly reduced after stretch; 60% of the deficit recovered 30 min poststretch. This was accompanied by, and correlated with (r = 0.81; P < style="font-weight: bold;">

CONCLUSION
These data indicate that the stretching protocol used in this study induced losses in concentric moment that were accompanied by, and related to, reductions in neuromuscular activity, but they were not associated with alterations in tendon stiffness or shorter muscle operating length. Reductions in passive moment were associated with reductions in muscle stiffness, whereas tendon mechanics were unaffected by the stretch. Importantly, the impact on mechanical properties and neuromuscular activity was minimal at 30 min poststretch.

Crazy Mobility-- Ginastica Natural

2009-03-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

Very interesting movements. I tried really hard to not make monkey noises during part of it since I would get even more crazy looks than normal.

Thanks to Rick for sending this one to me!

Just a reminder that I will be on iron radio this Friday, so get your questions into them and tune in
Mike T Nelson on Iron Radio-click here

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Headstands, Politicians and Iron Radio--oh my!

2009-03-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

In This Issue

Standing Backflip
Iron Radio with Me
Super Human Radio Update

Standing Backflip
For those who are on my newsletter (and if you are not, you can sign up on the upper right hand side) you know that one of my goals for this year is to do a standing back flip. The catch is that I have never taken any gymnastic courses EVER and I currently have some visual issues.

My right eye is suppressed, meaning that when most people view and objects, two images (one from each eye) go to the brain and the brain compares the images to combine them. Well, my brain gets two very different images and since the brain doesn't like to be confused, it "dumps" one of them to avoid confusion.

Both of my eyes track together, but my depth perception is the same as if a normal person had one eye closed. My goal is to get both of them to work together and regain more depth perception.

Now add in some new head positions and goofy 3D vision and it makes for some interesting video as you can see below!

My girlfriend Jodie showing me how it is done!

My attempts

I soon realized as soon as my head went down, I had no idea what the rest of my body was doing! Yikes!

I need to send a very special thanks to Olympic coach Pat at Minnesota Twisters for all the expert advice. She did an excellent job and if you are looking to learn gymnastics, check them out below

Minnesota Twisters

Mike T Nelson on Iron Radio this Friday
I will be on Iron Radio this coming Friday discussing
"Periodizing Training & Nutrition"

EVENT: Iron Radio With Mike T Nelson
DATE & TIME: Friday, April 3rd at 2:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast -- it's your choice)
TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW...
http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=6770136
www.ironradio.org

Please tune in and send in some great questions! It will be a good time.

Special Request from Carl Lanore
Carl is the host of Super Human Radio and does an excellent job. Check out the interview on did with Carl on proprioception "2 Way Muscle Talk" a few weeks ago

Z Health, Proprioception, Neuroplasticity all on Super Human Radio

Carl recently did a very important episode, so see his comment below

"I have never asked anyone to help promote a show before... but this is different. The show that aired today has serious implications and ramifications to ALL OF US. Please listen and pass along to your members, friends and family. The link below is the permalink to this particular episode and will NOT change. Use this link when passing it along. Thanks in advance. "
Carl

Show # 277

03/20/2009

- MUST HEAR EPISODE - New Legislature Will Restrict Your Access To Healthy Food... This Is NOT a Hoax

Guest: Judith McGeary and Pete Kennedy

They're at it again! Politicians and special interest groups. If they have their way we will all lose access to health giving nutritious foods AND the family farm will , once and for all, be put to death. You must listen and pass this show on to others NOW.

Download this episode - http://www.superhumanradio.com/rss/2009/SHR_Show_277.mp3

Thanks and any comments, let me know!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Inspiration: New APA Raw Deadlift Record by Layne Norton

2009-03-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to put up a quick inspirational video for everyone.

Below is Layne Norton setting a new APA Raw Deadlift record in the 220lb weight class. He deadlifted 3Xs his body weight! Although you would not believe it from the video below, Layne is actually a professional natural body builder, so powerlifting is not his main focus even! If you want to LOOK strong, it helps to BE strong.

Layne is also a PhD Candidate in Exercise Physiology working in protein synthesis research and runs his own training and business too. Everyone is busy and if you want to achieve anything you need to step up and get after it. Time is NOT an excuse.

Check out his website at http://www.biolayne.com/

CONGRATS to Layne!

What is holding you back?
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Z Health Testimonial: Endurance Athlete

2009-03-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Z Health Testimonial Time
Mike is like a miracle worker. One time I was walking with him and he asked me if I had ever been in an accident. I said no. Then he said, You walk funny. He had me do just a few odd exercises and suddenly my whole gait felt different. It actually felt smooth. I didn't know it could feel like that. That whole episode lasted about 5 minutes. Unbelievable!

--Neil Erdmans, Team Strong Heart Race Across America (RAAM) Rider
Team Heartstrong finished 3rd in the 2007 RAAM

Mike's notes
Thanks Neil! Some of the Z Health drills are kind of odd, but as Dr. Cobb likes to say "you should be able to make changes at the speed of the nervous system" which is VERY fast.

I was a crew member for the RAAM race that year, and it was quite the experience to say the least. Be sure to check out my blog posts about it below.

Race Across America Update!

Team Strong Heart places 3rd in RAAM!!

Neil just before the big race in 2007

Be sure to follow Team Strong Heart for 2009 RAAM!

Check out Neil's blog at Nerdy Bike

Make It Easy and Ergogenics - Caffeine, Performance, and Cortisol

2009-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Make It Easy
Here is the tip of the day based on a conversation I had with Frankie Faires awhile back.

Your goal in the gym is to make what you are doing look easy.

Your goal is NOT to make tons of noise, grunt, tighten your neck and have a few veins burst in your head. If that happens as a by product on occasion, I will let ya slide; but that is NOT the intended goal.

Watch elite athletes. Do they make it look hard or easy?
If they make it look easy, why are YOU making it look hard?

How do you make it look easy?
1) It is easy (so get stronger or more coordinated or both)

2) Practice like it is easy.

Now, this does NOT mean bad form. Perfect form! Does grinding your teeth so hard that your eyes almost close help you lift more? Or is this a learned response from doing many reps that way? I would go with the latter.

Here is a great deadlift video. Notice the crap ton of weight on the bar, notice the focus, but does he make it look easy or hard? For those that are bad at math, it is 937 lbs!

Blog update on Nerve Flossing
I did a post awhile back discussing how nerve flossing can increase range of motion, strength and ultimately performance (see below)

Nerve Flossing Z Health Style: I Can Rotate My Neck!

Todd at Better Movement has a whole 3 part series on it that is very well done. Check it out below
Nerve Flossing part 3

On to the studies!
2 awesome studies below along with my comemnts.

Check out my comments below each one

Effect of caffeine on the neuromuscular system - potential as an ergogenic aid.

Tarnopolsky MA. Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8N3Z5, Canada(e-mail: tarnopol@mcmaster.ca).

The ergogenic effect of caffeine on endurance exercise performance is multifactorial; however, there is evidence for an effect on both the central nervous system and the excitation-contraction coupling of skeletal muscle. The increase in exercise performance seen following intracerebroventrical caffeine injection in rats provides strong evidence for a central ergogenic effect. The central ergogenic effect is not likely related to the ability of caffeine to promote wakefulness, but could be due to an increase in the pain and effort perception threshold. There is no evidence that caffeine alters peripheral nerve conduction velocity or neuromuscular transmission, and 1 study showed that motor unit synchronization was not altered by caffeine. Studies have also shown that caffeine can have a direct effect on skeletal muscle that could be ergogenic.

For example, patients with high cervical spinal cord lesions showed improvements in stimulated contractile force during cycling, in spite of the fact that they have no peripheral pain input and no sympathetic nervous system response. Two studies have found a potentiation of force production during submaximal stimulation intensities, and 1 found that the M-wave amplitude was not altered by caffeine. Together, these studies suggest that caffeine can enhance contractile force during submaximal contractions by potentiating calcium release from the ryanodine receptor, not by altering sarcoplasmic excitability. Furthermore, the potentiation of force during submaximal electrical stimulation is identical in habitual and nonhabitual caffeine consumers.

Conclusion: In summary, the ergogenic effects of caffeine during endurance activity are mediated partly by enhanced contractile force and partly by a reduction in perceived exertion, possibly though a blunting of effort and (or) pain.

My Notes:
Endurance training at a high level is all about "pain management". While I believe that pain is very ergolytic (pain decreases performance), caffeine use may be a way to enhance endurance performance.

Like all things, if you do decide to try it out, pure anhydrous caffeine (No Doze) is the best way to go since you want to standardize the caffeine amount. Make sure you do in practice a few times and NOT before a big race!! Practice makes perfect.

Related posts
Research Update: December: Ergogenics-Caffeine and Asprin

Next study!

Caffeine and carbohydrate supplementation during exercise when in negative energy balance: effects on performance, metabolism, and salivary cortisol.

Slivka D, Hailes W, Cuddy J, Ruby B. Montana Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism (WPEM), Department of Health and Human Performance, The University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.

The ingestion of carbohydrate (+CHO) and caffeine (+CAF) during exercise is a commonly used ergogenic practice. Investigations are typically conducted with subjects who are in a rested state after an overnight fast. However, this state of positive energy balance is not achieved during many work and exercise circumstances. The aim of this study was to evaluate the substrate use and performance effects of caffeine and carbohydrate consumed alone and in combination while participants were in negative energy balance.

Male participants (n = 9; 23 +/- 3 years; 74.1 +/- 10.6 kg) completed 4 trials in random order: -CAF/-CHO, -CAF/+CHO, +CAF/-CHO, and +CAF/+CHO. Diet and exercise were prescribed for 2 days before each trial to ensure negative energy balance. For each trial, before and after 2 h of cycling at 50% of maximal watts, a saliva sample and a muscle biopsy (vastus lateralis) were obtained. A simulated 20 km time trial was then performed.

The respiratory exchange ratio was higher (p <> 0.05), or any of the other trials. When co-ingested with carbohydrate, caffeine increased fat use and decreased nonmuscle glycogen carbohydrate use over carbohydrate alone when participants are in negative energy balance.

Conclusion: When co-ingested with carbohydrate, caffeine increased fat use and decreased nonmuscle glycogen carbohydrate use over carbohydrate alone when participants are in negative energy balance; However, caffeine had no effect on the 20 km cycling time trial performance.

My Notes:
The use of burning more fat for fuel is referred to as the "Randle effect" The more technical definition is the inhibition of the oxidation of glucose by an excess of fatty acids. It appears that this study would confirm that caffeine does increase the use of fatty acids as fuel, but I am not convinced yet. If this is true, why was it not show in the caffeine but no carbs group? They pulled salivary cortisol levels, but did not report them in the abstract? Hmmmm.

See this related post

Will Caffeine Help Me Loose Fat? New Research

If anyone wants more info on this one, drop me a note in the comments section and I may have to do some further investigation. Or if you have already done that, I really want to hear from you.

Rock on

Mike T Nelson

Testimonial Time, Blogs, Fat Loss and Bone Health Connection?

2009-03-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Testimonial Time
I had the privilege to do a clinic on the basics of Z Health and how to maximize your training for some of the fine folks from 5 Ring Fitness this past weekend.

The recent clinic with Mike T Nelson, Master Z Trainer and RKC was a huge hit! He met the challenge remarkably well, covering a broad range of subject matter seamlessly and fielding everyone's questions with concise and germane answers.

He held the attention of the group with good natured humor and proved himself to be an able instructor. We at 5 Rings Fitness are very greatful for his time, thanks Mike, hope we can do that again in the future.

James Neidlinger, RKC
5 Ring Fitness

Check out his blog also at
5 Rings Fitness Blogspot

Thanks again James and it was a true pleasure to teach for yourself and the eager group of students you brought in!

If anyone else is interested a custom clinic, drop me a line by clicking on the blue text below.
Put in the subject line "Mike T Nelson Clinic info...'"
Email me by clicking here

If you are interested in KBs, Dragon Door has them for 30% off now!
Pick them up by clicking on this link
I want some Dragon Door Kettlebells!
I have many of the them and I absolutely love them. Stop paying big money for the gym with all the fancy machines.

Blog Updates!
I have added a few new blogs on the right, so check them out

Tommy's Blog
He is an assistant strength and condititiong coach here at the University of Minnesota and all around really smart guy. He is also under taking some crazy training too! See the link below
Tommy's blog

Bob Kaufer is a fellow Z Health guy and now has a new blog dedicated to his passion for health and fitness. Check it out below

Neuro Performance & Health

Aaron S speaks out on running!
My buddy and strength coach Aaron S has an excellent blog post about running. This is NOT your average post on the topic. Check it out below

Aaron Schwenzfeier's Blog: Running

Study Time
What do your bones have to do with fat loss? See the study below and my comments at the end.

The relationship of serum osteocalcin concentration to insulin secretion, sensitivity, and disposal with hypocaloric diet and resistance training.

Fernández-Real JM, Izquierdo M, Ortega F, Gorostiaga E, Gómez-Ambrosi J, Moreno-Navarrete JM, Frühbeck G, Martínez C, Idoate F, Salvador J, Forga L, Ricart W, Ibañez J. Department of Diabetes, Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Girona, CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición CB06/03/010, 17007 Girona, Catalonia, Spain. uden.jmfernandezreal@htrueta.scs.es

CONTEXT: Bone has recently been described as exhibiting properties of an endocrine organ by producing osteocalcin that increases insulin sensitivity and secretion in animal models.

OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN: We aimed to evaluate circulating osteocalcin in association with insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in three different studies in nondiabetic subjects: one cross-sectional study in 149 men (using minimal model), and two longitudinal studies in two independent groups (one formed by 26 women, and the other by 9 men and 11 women), after a mean of 7.3 and 16.8% weight loss, and after a mean of 8.7% weight loss plus regular exercise.

RESULTS: In the cross-sectional study, circulating osteocalcin was associated with insulin sensitivity, mainly in lean subjects, and with insulin secretion (only in lean subjects). A mean of 16.8%, but not 7.3% weight loss, led to significant increases in circulating osteocalcin.

However, a mean of 8.7% weight loss plus regular exercise led to the more pronounced effects on the serum osteocalcin concentration, which increased in parallel to reduced visceral fat mass, unchanged thigh muscle mass, and increased leg strength and force. The postintervention serum levels of osteocalcin were associated with both insulin sensitivity (r = 0.49; P = 0.03) and fasting triglycerides (r = -0.54; P = 0.01). The change in visceral fat was the parameter that best predicted the change in serum osteocalcin, once age, body mass index, and insulin sensitivity changes were controlled for (P = 0.002).

CONCLUSION: Circulating osteocalcin could mediate the role of bone as an endocrine organ in humans.

My Notes:
I find this study fascinating! I don't think many (I sure as heck would not) have thought of bone has having a potential effect upon fat loss!

Wow. It goes to show that it is all connected.

"All the body, all the time" --Dr. Eric Cobb

I have some thoughts that bone may regulate hypertrophy, but I have not seen any literature on that aspect yet. Muscles attach to bone and perhaps in some people, bone strength may be a limiting factor, thus working like an arthrokinetic reflex, inhibiting muscle force creation in the brain.

Arthro, who? Below is a post on the arthrokinetic reflex that is taught in Z Health R Phase.

Jammed Joints and Muscular Weakness--Stability and Mobility

For those that prefer video, here it is for ya!

Summary Keep looking at the body as a WHOLE and you will be on track!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for March: Endurance Training vs Strength Training

2009-03-24T05:03:00.000-07:00

So I am running behind a bit on studies, so this post will be a bit longer than normal and my comments are included at the start instead of after each one

Endurnace vs Strength Training Adaptations
The first study is looking at the signals from endurance training. There is a resurgence of sorts in the literature now of how the body adapts to training, both for endurance and strength performance.

Dr. Hawley's lab in the "Land Down Under" has done some very cool work in this area. I was able to see a great talk from Dr. Coffey at ACSM last year about this topic. The plasticity of the human body is just amazing!

Early signaling responses to divergent exercise stimuli in skeletal muscle from well-trained humans

He was also just on the MD Research show, so check out that link below
MD Research Podcast
What do we know?
We know that strength athletes are not going to be the first ones to finish a marathon race since exterme endurance training (marathon) and extreme strength (1 rep max in say olympic lifting or a powerlifting event) are on the polar opposites of the spectrum.

The SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demand) states that "your body will ALWAYS adapt to EXACTLY what you are doing, whether you are aware or not" (special thanks to Dr. Cobb and Frankie Faires for reminding me about that one a few years back).

If you want to improve your marathon times, you need to go run! You want to get stronger, you need to lift heavy things!

How much overlap can exist between the two will be a hot topic in the future and there are some very cool studies that should be out later this year looking at this topic.

What to do now?
In the meantime, while there is little data on it, if you are doing some endurance work in addition to strength training; you may want to split out your sessions. An example is below
Mon: AM low intensity bike work
Mon: PM high intensity strength work
etc.

How much time you need between sessions is debateable. Even more debateable is what about high intensity sprint work? Again, there is not tons of data behind this currently.

Hence the science AND art to coaching!

The other abstracts below discuss molecular signalling needed for protein synthasiss (aka building muscle).

Any comments, let me know!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Skeletal muscle eEF2 and 4EBP1 phosphorylation during endurance exercise is dependent on intensity and muscle fiber type.

Rose AJ, Bisiani B, Vistisen B, Kiens B, Richter EA. Molecular Physiology Group, Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Dept. of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Section of Human Physiology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 13, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2100. arose@ifi.ku.dk

Protein synthesis in skeletal muscle is known to decrease during exercise, and it has been suggested that this may depend on the magnitude of the relative metabolic stress within the contracting muscle. To examine the mechanisms behind this, the effect of exercise intensity on skeletal muscle eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) and eukaryotic initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 (4EBP1) phosphorylation, key components in the mRNA translation machinery, were examined together with AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in healthy young men. Skeletal muscle eEF2 phosphorylation at Thr56 increased during exercise but was not influenced by exercise intensity, and was lower than rest 30 min after exercise.

On the other hand, 4EBP1 phosphorylation at Thr37/46 decreased during exercise, and this decrease was greater at higher exercise intensities and was similar to rest 30 min after exercise. AMPK activity, as indexed by AMPK alpha-subunit phosphorylation at Thr172 and phosphorylation of the AMPK substrate ACCbeta at Ser221, was higher with higher exercise intensities, and these indices were higher than rest after high-intensity exercise only. Using immunohistochemistry, it was shown that the increase in skeletal muscle eEF2 Thr56 phosphorylation was restricted to type I myofibers.

CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data suggest that the depression of skeletal muscle protein synthesis with endurance-type exercise may be regulated at both initiation (i.e., 4E binding protein 1) and elongation (i.e., eukaryotic elongation factor 2) steps, with eukaryotic elongation factor 2 phosphorylation contributing at all exercise intensities but 4E binding protein 1dephosphorylation contributing to a greater extent at high vs. low exercise intensities.

Intracellular signalling pathways regulating the adaptation of skeletal muscle to exercise and nutritional changes.

Matsakas A, Patel K. School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Whiteknights campus, Reading, UK. A.Matsakas@gmail.com

The focus of the present review is to assimilate current knowledge concerning the differing signalling transduction cascades that control muscle mass development and affect skeletal muscle phenotype following exercise or nutritional uptake. Effects of mechanical loading on protein synthesis are discussed. Muscle growth control is regulated by the interplay of growth promoting and growth suppressing factors, which act in concert. Much emphasis has been placed on understanding how increases in the rate of protein synthesis are induced in skeletal muscle during the adaptive process.

One key point to emerge is that protein synthesis following resistance exercise or increased nutrient availability is mediated through changes in signal transduction involving the phosphorylation of mTOR and sequential activation of downstream targets. On the other hand, AMPK activation plays an important role in the inhibition of protein synthesis by suppressing the function of multiple translation regulators of the mTOR signalling pathway in response to cellular energy depletion and low metabolic conditions.

CONCLUSION: The effects of exercise and/or nutritional uptake on the activation of signalling molecules that regulate protein synthesis are highlighted, providing a better understanding of the molecular changes in the cell.

Rapamycin administration in humans blocks the contraction-induced increase in skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

Drummond MJ, Fry CS, Glynn EL, Dreyer HC, Dhanani S, Timmerman KL, Volpi E, Rasmussen BB. University of Texas Medical Branch.

Muscle protein synthesis and mTORC1 signalling are concurrently stimulated following muscle contraction in humans. In an effort to determine whether mTORC1 signalling is essential for regulating muscle protein synthesis in humans, we treated subjects with a potent mTORC1 inhibitor (rapamycin) prior to performing a series of high-intensity muscle contractions. Here we show that rapamycin treatment blocks the early (1-2h) acute contraction-induced increase (~40%) in human muscle protein synthesis. In addition, several downstream components of the mTORC1 signalling pathway were also blunted or blocked by rapamycin. For instance, S6K1 phosphorylation (Thr421/Ser424) was increased post-exercise by 6 fold in the Control group while being unchanged with rapamycin treatment.

Furthermore, eEF2 phosphorylation (Thr56) was reduced by ~25% post-exercise in the Control group but phosphorylation following rapamycin treatment was unaltered indicating that translation elongation was inhibited. Rapamycin administration prior to exercise also reduced the ability of raptor to associate with mTORC1 during post-exercise recovery. Surprisingly, rapamycin treatment prior to resistance exercise completely blocked the contraction-induced increase in the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204) and blunted the increase in MNK1 (Thr197/202) phosphorylation. However, the phosphorylation of a known target of MNK1, eIF4E (Ser208), was similar in both groups (P>0.05) which is consistent with the notion that rapamycin does not directly inhibit MAPK signalling.

CONCLUSION: We conclude that mTORC1 signalling is, in part, playing a key role in regulating the contraction-induced stimulation of muscle protein synthesis in humans, while dual activation of mTORC1 and ERK1/2 stimulation may be required for full stimulation of human skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

A Ca2+-calmodulin-eEF2K-eEF2 signalling cascade, but not AMPK, contributes to the suppression of skeletal muscle protein synthesis during contractions.

Rose AJ, Alsted TJ, Jensen TE, Kobber JB, Maarbjerg SJ, Jensen JR, Richter EA. University of Copenhagen.

Skeletal muscle protein synthesis rate decreases during contractions but the underlying regulatory mechanisms are poorly understood. It was hypothesised that there would be a coordinated regulation of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) and eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4EBP1) phosphorylation by signalling cascades downstream of rises in intracellular [Ca(2+)] and decreased energy charge via AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) in contracting skeletal muscle. When fast-twitch skeletal muscles were contracted ex vivo using different protocols, the suppression of protein synthesis correlated more closely with changes in eEF2 rather than 4EBP1 phosphorylation. Using a combination of Ca(2+) release agents and ATPase inhibitors it was shown that the 60-70% suppression of fast-twitch skeletal muscle protein synthesis during contraction was equally distributed between Ca(2+) and energy-turnover related mechanisms.

Furthermore, eEF2 kinase inhibition completely blunted increases in eEF2 phosphorylation and partially blunted (i.e. 30-40%) the suppression of protein synthesis during contractions. The 3-5 fold increase in skeletal muscle eEF2 phosphorylation during contractions in situ was rapid and sustained and restricted to working muscle. The increase in eEF2 phosphorylation and eEF2 kinase activation were downstream of Ca(2+)/calmodulin but not other putative activating factors such as a fall in intracellular pH or phosphorylation by protein kinases. Furthermore, blunted protein synthesis and 4EBP1 dephosphorylation were unrelated to AMPK activity during contractions, which was exemplified by normal blunting of protein synthesis during contractions in muscles overexpressing kinase dead AMPK.

CONCLUSION: In summary, in fast-twitch skeletal muscle, the inhibition of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 activity by phosphorylation downstream of Ca(2+)-CaM-eEF2K signalling partially contributes to the suppression of protein synthesis during exercise/contractions.

Leucine Supplementation: New research soon!

2009-03-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Donate to a Great Cause
Alright, I very rarely ever put things like this up on my blog, but my good buddy Phil Stevens is having a raffle for a great cause. See the info below from him. I already made my cash donation and you may even win some great prizes too.

In addition, I will be donating some phone consultations for a few lucky winners too.

Click here to donate!

Phil says,"Check out the above link. I started a nationwide raffle for the event. Please take a look and spread the word to everyone you know. Every little bit helps no matter how small and there are some great prizes to be won. At the worst you will have given money to a great cause and great event.

Along with the event it self starting next week Ill be going to several functions and working directly with the 2000+ kids spreading the word of athletics in general as well as strength sports and nutrition.

For more info check out the event home page: www.lift4hope.org and RVSP at the facebook group

Again every little bit helps no matter how small.
Thank you
Phil Stevens,

Dave Barr Announcement
I have on my "to do list" to clean up a couple of the blog links on the right, and if you went to Dave Barr's link you will notice that it does not go anywhere.

Well, Dave and had a long drawn out fight about leucine and if weighted facial stretching was a good idea and it really came to an ugly ending. Ha--I kid, I kid. Dave and I are fine and he actually got a job at Muscle and Fitness as a Senior Science Editor, so his other site was closed down for now. I truly wish him all the best and I am very happy for his new position as he is a very talented guy. Be on the look out for a new book form him related to "Nutrition for the Nervous System" (not sure of the exact title) and I will have a review up as soon as I can get my grubby paws on it. Congrats Dave!

Speaking of lecine....

Brand New Study on Leucine!

Just wanted to give you a heads up to look for the following study very soon as it has been accepted for publication, but it is not out yet. Van Loon's lab has been cranking out lots of interesting studies in regards to protein synthesis over the past several years.

S Verhoeven, K Vanschoonbeek, LB Verdijk, R Koopman, WKWH Wodzig, P Dendale, and LJC van Loon: Long-term leucine supplementation does not increase muscle mass or strength in healthy elderly men.

As the astute readers of this blog know, protein synthesis (building muscle) response in older folks is not the same as younger people; so the jury is still out a bit on that part.

In the meantime, check out the following by clicking on each one.

BCAA Supplementation Roundtable

By Jamie Hale

And other posts

Research Review: Do You Only Need 20 Grams of Protein Post Workout?

Performance Research for February: Protein Synthesis and Exercise Round 1

Charles Staley Seminar: Dave Barr and Supplements

Metabolic Flexibility Research and an Average Day

2009-03-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

I recently had a question about what I doing for my research and what a typical day is like for me, so I thought I would republish here for all of you.

What are my research projects like/what are my teaching responsibilities?

I am investigating the concept of Metabolic Flexibility. For a full literature review, see the link below

Metabolic Inflexibility Literature Review

We know that as people get closer to say a diabetic condition, their body has a harder time processing carbohydrates. The opposite of this should also be true, as they are closer to a "healthy" state, they should be able to efficiently use carbohydrates, fats and perhaps protein.

In my study I am looking at the effects of a commercially available Energy Drink to alter Heart Rate Variability (measure of heart health), Flow Mediated Dilation (measure of vessel health), changes in Respiratory Exchange Ratio (amount of carbs and fat burned during exercise) and is it an ergogenic (does it enhance exercise performance). I am also working on two other papers related to Metabolic Flexibility and Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

I am a Teaching Assistant (TA) for KIN 3385 Human Physiology and KIN 4385 Exercise Physiology labs. I also do a lecture on occasion for both.

What is a typical day like?
Day to Day varies quite a bit. Here is a recent Tuesday

5:40am--get up, head to the lab
Too early to think, so I make sure to set everything out the night before.

6:30am prep and then subject testing. Have a bowl of oatmeal and protein shake with Biotest super food (fruit/veggie supplement). Normally at home I have eggs and spinach.

9:00am finished subject testing

9:10-11:10am Human Physiology labs (TA)

11:10-12:30 email, review study for meeting
Grilled chicken breast with veggies and olive oil.

12:30-1:30pm, U of MN staff meeting

1:30-2pm change clothes, drive to work

2-5pm work in Technical Services at Boston Scientific
I've been working there for 9 years now and I started after I spent 7.5 years in college on the "first go round". I was able to drop to 24 hours a week 2 years ago in order to finish my PhD.

A snack made with organic whole plain yogurt, protein powder and a bit of sugar free pudding mix, with berries.

5:45pm get home, unpack, change and get ready for client
Chicken breast with veggies and olive oil

7-9pm training a client in my garage gym
I also train at this time. This time we were working on some bench, rows using gymnastic rings attached to the power rack and KB snatches. Warm up is Z Health Neuro Warm Up and any other special Z Health drills to get his movement up to par before we lift.

Here is a video on how to do a neutral bench press shot in my garage gym.

9pm prep food for the next day, shower, etc
Post training meal of grilled salmon, broccoli and sweet potato with butter and cinnamon. Tasty!

10pm off to bed, rinse and repeat

Tuesdays tend to be a busier day, but most days are pretty packed lately although what I am working on tends to vary.

The key is to plan ahead. I like to do all my food prep on Sunday (or lately it has been Wed evenings) so that I am good to go before the weeks starts.

What tips do you have to get through your busy weeks? Post them in the comments section.

Here is another tip for you--a video on how to cook salmon in just minutes!

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

The RKC Experience

2009-03-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

I get a fair amount of great questions about how the RKC certification was and if it was worth the time. My answer is that it was a great experience and I "enjoyed" it quite a bit.

Keep in mind that it is a much a rite of passage as a learning experience. If you have not picked up a Kettlebell (KB) ever before, you are in for a rude awakening! Not only do you have to pass the Snatch Test, you will be working very hard each day, ending with the graduation work out.

The one thing I love about the RKC is that you will be hard pressed to find a group of more passionate fitness professionals around. Everyone there was all about learning as much as they could.

Below is a video from the recent RKC cert in CA. I will be helping assist at the June RKC I here in MN, so if you are here for it, please hunt me down and say hello.

RKC Weekend 2009

2009 Predictions for Health, Fitness and Athletic Performance

2009-03-19T07:45:00.000-07:00

So I wrote this back in November and have not had time to even proof it and get it out and now 1/4 of 2009 is over! Time flies.

I have only listed 5 here and if you want to see the rest of the list I will only be sending it out to my loyal newsletter subscribers. It only takes a few seconds to sign up to my newsletter, so go to the upper right hand side of this blog and enter in your name and email. I HATE spam and will never sell your address or send you crap. Plus you will be the first to hear about any upcoming events, products and news.

The rest of the list will go out to my newsletter on Monday, March 23 at noon CST, so sign up now.

Here ya go!

Mike T Nelson's Predictions for Health, Fitness and Athletic Performance in 2009

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr

In no particular order, here are my thoughts

1) Movement and Mood
I think more people will look at the connection between movement and mood. All things being equal, the better your movement, the better your mood. Notice your movement when you are sick--usually not very good. How do you know when Fido is sick? Fido's movement goes in the hopper as he mopes around. Fido can't speak to you and tell you he is sick, you infer that from his movement. Fix your movement and note the difference! This is a huge reason why I love Z Health. See also

Mood and Mobility

Dopamine, Mood, Movement and Exercise

2) Kettlebells are here to stay
Every year, more and more people learn about kettlebells and they are here to stay. Kettlebells are not new, and have been used for well over 300 years.

The kettlebell appears in a 1704 Russian Dictionary (Cherkikh, 1994). I love KBs, but I agree that they are NOT the ONLY implement to use. If you only use KBs--great, but it is not a requirement. KBs provide a great way to perform many great exercises like KB swings, KB snatches, presses, cleans, etc.

Just make sure to find a good instructor to show you have to use them properly. And be sure to stay far far away from jokers like this below (click on it to open)

Kettleworx As Seen on KARE 11 TV Can Kiss My....

3) Painful hands on (massage) work will be used less
As more people investigate the nervous system, there will be less and less use of painful techniques for hands on work.
Creating pain is NOT needed to get the desired result, and many times it may be going in the wrong direction.

If you are trying to get OUT of pain, why would you do things that put you IN pain?

If you come in to see someone and complain about a painful right shoulder, I could take a hot poker and stab your right ankle with it. The pain in your right shoulder will feel much less. I know this is an extreme example (and no I don't use red hot pokers or branding irons) , but the idea is similar.

Despite popular belief, even scar work does NOT need to be painful. I've had great scar work done on myself and none of it was painful.

If someone wants to use an implement on you, I would politely pass. Check that, I would actually get up off the table and run out the door as fast as you could. Send a check in the mail for payment later.

You don't need someone with a dull spoon digging around your rotator cuff area. It is true that these techniques can result in temporary relief, but long term I believe there is a better way. cough cough, insert Z Health Level 4 plug here.

Don't try to blow up the safe when you just need the correct combination to open the door.

For more info, see the links below
Myth Busters: Painful Soft Tissue Work

4) Mechanical vs Neurological Solutions
The current trend seems to still be in the mechanical realm for performance and pain reduction. Oh, your hip flexors are "tight" and that further causes your glutes to be inhibited (reciprocal inhibition) so we need to stretch your hip flexors and strengthen your glutes.

While I believe you can get good results with this approach in many cases, but remember that the WHOLE body is HIGHLY INTEGRATED and it is very rarely that simple (although sometimes it is). We need to take a WHOLE BODY approach. Many times I see hip flexor and glute issues traced back to the feet/ankles being goofed up.

A pure biomechanical approach will provide some results, but at some point you will run into a ceiling (stole that one from Dr. Cobb). At some point we need to think WHY is a certain muscle tight/weak, etc and we end up at the nervous system.

The nervous system is what is TELLING the muscles to be tight, so for OPTIMAL results we need to use a system that targets the nervous system (hence, why I love Z Health, I know some are tired of hearing that by now).

If you believe that the nervous system holds all the keys, and most will agree with that, why would you go back to a pure biomechanical approach then?

When I started college many years ago (ok, it was 1992 and I suddenly feel old now since I am STILL in freaking college.) I was convinced that the biomechanical approach was the best and even completed a MS in Mechanical Engineering focusing on biomechanics. I soon realized that I needed to go further upstream into the brain and nervous system since that is what is really controlling the show! Hence that part about me still being in college.

5) Vision Training will be more mainstream
Rumor has it that Nike has a vision training system due out in 2009. Most people think of vision as only visual acuity (how well you can see the numbers and letters at the doc's office). I am 20/20, so I am all good, right?

There are actually many more components to vision such as the ability to see in 3D (since we have 2 eyes), the ability to switch from a close to a far target (looking up from my laptop here my eyes have to change focus to see who is walking towards me for example) and other components.

Remember that the eyes are controlled by MUSCLES! Muscles can be trained.

Keep in mind the SAID principle----ALL visual work will have to be made SAID specific as part of the progression! This point will most likely be lost. Z Health S Phase contains many many great visual training skills. Drop me a line if you are interested---awesome stuff

Summary
I have more predictions, but you will have to sign up to my newsletter by entering your name and email in the box on the upper right hand side. Do so by this coming Monday, March 23 at noon CST as I will be sending out my newsletter with the rest of list then.

I promise I will NEVER send you any spam because I hate stupid spam.

That is it for my crystal ball look into 2009. What are your predictions/thoughts? Agree or disagree? Am I off my rocker completely?

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Fear and Learning part 2

2009-03-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

I had some great questions about the post below regarding fear and learning. Still working on finding someone to video the presentations and may be able to round up some other presenters.

If you or anyone you know can shoot a DVD for a reasonable price, drop a note in the comments or email me directly at michaelTnelson AT yahoo DOT com.

See this post below for background:

Erasing Human Fear Response? New Study

Here is a condensed, bare bones outline.

Higher tension = greaer potential for higher threat (fear)= increased amygdala response, so more "fear mediated" learning.

Fear mediated learning works, but at a high cost (more collateral damage)

Extreme case is post traumatic stress disorder. Can we block "collateral damage" with beta blockers? The study referenced in the blog post above says yes.

Perhaps decreased heart rate (HR) could have a similar effect? Is the combination of increased HR and adrenaline the mechanism to "burn it in"?

Summary
Less threat (fear) + positive cues= more dopamine= increased neuro chunking = better motor learning (cool study showing that dopamine was required for chunking, blocked it with drugs and no chunking)

For those that don't know--chunking is the ability to combine more "primitive" motor movements into a more complicated task; so it is critical for motor learning.

Effects on Pain?
Being in chronic pain tends to mediate more fear based learning.

You need to be able to move without pain and then not to EXPECT pain with movements.

Thoughts? Make any sense?
Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Inspiration: Brad Gillingham 881 pound Deadlift

2009-03-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

WOW! I took this off of Aaron's blob. Be sure to check out his reviews of the Arnold this year below:

Arnold Chapter 8 ~ The Airport

Wow! 881 lbs by Brad. That is crazy and a personal record (PR) for him. He is a professional powerlifter and GNC Pro Performance® team member, lifetime drug free and has been inducted into the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) Hall of Fame. Despite what you may think, powerlifting gear and suits do not seem to help the deadlift much (as compared to the squat and bench).

Congrats again to Brad. He is also one of the nicest, most helpful athlete you will ever meet.

Rock on
Mike T Nelson

Performance Research for March - Ergogenics: Beta Alanine

2009-03-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Some more science for ya on Beta Alanine. See this post below from some background on how it may work.

Effects of Sodium Bicarbonate Ingestion on Performance-Ergogenic?

Effects of beta-alanine supplementation and high-intensity interval training on endurance performance and body composition in men; a double-blind trial.

Smith AE, Walter AA, Graef JL, Kendall KL, Moon JR, Lockwood CM, Fakuda DH, Beck TW, Cramer JT, Stout JR.

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND: Intermittent bouts of high-intensity exercise result in diminished stores of energy substrates, followed by an accumulation of metabolites, promoting chronic physiological adaptations. In addition, beta-alanine has been accepted has an effective physiological hydrogen ion (H+) buffer. Concurrent high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and beta-alanine supplementation may result in greater adaptations than HIIT alone. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of combining beta-alanine supplementation with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on endurance performance and aerobic metabolism in recreationally active college-aged men.

Methods. Forty-six men (Age: 22.2 +/- 2.7 yrs; Ht: 178.1 +/- 7.4 cm; Wt: 78.7 +/- 11.9; VO2peak: 3.3 +/- 0.59 l * min-1) were assessed for peak O2 utilization (VO2peak), time to fatigue (VO2TTE), ventilatory threshold (VT), and total work done at 110% of pre-training VO2peak (TWD).

In a double-blind fashion, all subjects were randomly assigned into one either a placebo (PL - 16.5g dextrose powder per packet; n=18) or beta-alanine (BA - 1.5 g beta-alanine plus 15 g dextrose powder per packet; n=18) group. All subjects supplemented four times per day (total of 6g/day) for the first 21-days, followed by two times per day (3g/day) for the subsequent 21 days, and engaged in a total of six weeks of HIIT training consisting of 5-6 bouts of a 2:1 minute cycling work to rest ratio.

Results. Significant improvements in VO2peak, VO2TTE, and TWD after three weeks of training were displayed (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION. The use of high-intensity interval training to induce significant aerobic improvements is effective and efficient. Chronic BA supplementation may further enhance high-intensity interval training, improving endurance performance and lean body mass.

My Notes: Ok, I admit it is late and my eyes are kind of buggy so perhaps I missed the numbers, but I will have to look up the actual changes in times/improvements. It looks like they are significant (P<0.05) but that still may mean a small difference.

Appears like a loading phase at 6g/day may still be needed. Past numbers I saw for loading were around 6-9g/day.

See a previous study link below

Performance Research for November: Beta Alanine and Exercise Peformance

Metabolomic investigation into variation of endogenous metabolites in professional athletes subject to strength-endurance training.
Yan B, A J, Wang G, Lu H, Huang X, Liu Y, Zha W, Hao H, Zhang Y, Liu L, Gu S, Huang Q, Zheng Y, Sun J. Key Laboratory of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, People's Republic of China.

Strength-endurance type of sport can lead to modification of human beings' physiological status. The present study aimed to investigate the alteration of metabolic phenotype or biochemical compositions in professional athletes induced by long-term training by means of a novel systematic tool, metabolomics. Resting venous blood samples of junior and senior male rowers were obtained before and after 1-wk and 2-wk training. Venous blood from healthy male volunteers as control was also sampled at rest. Endogenous metabolites in serum were profiled by GC/TOF-MS and multivariate statistical technique, i.e., principal component analysis (PCA), and partial least squares projection to latent structures and discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were used to process the data. Significant metabolomic difference was observed between the professional athletes and control subjects.

Long-term strength and endurance training induced distinct separation between athletes of different exercise seniority, and training stage-related trajectory of the two groups of athletes was clearly shown along with training time. However, most of these variations were not observed by common biochemical parameters, such as hemoglobin, testosterone, and creatine kinase. The identified metabolites contributing to the classification included alanine, lactate, beta-d-methylglucopyranoside, pyroglutamic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, citric acid, free fatty acids, valine, glutamine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and so on, which were involved in glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, energy metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that metabolomics is a promising and potential tool to profile serum of professional athletes, make a deep insight into physiological states, and clarify the disorders induced by strength-endurance physical exercise.

My Notes: Anyone have any further information/experience on this one? If so, let me know.

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