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My Comments on Some Recent Comments
November 30, 2007 07:29 PM
As I migrated to my new site and upgraded to a new version of Movable Type I lost some comments. They were treated as junk or spam by the new version. Fair enough because I once got a ton of it. But, the few of you who were treated badly have been welcomed. I monitored the junk-labeled comments and added the posters to our trusted posters. I hope this resolved the issue, but we will probably have to revisit it later.
A few responses to various comments.
Machines. I use the machines when I want to make my workouts efficient and safe. If I can stay at one station for three workouts, that is time gained and progress. Not that I am ever in a hurry, but I want the pace and intensity to be up there. So, one station, three exercises works.
Post work out drinks. A real killer to your metabolism, as I discussed in the earlier post, and many others. To add to the issues, a high carb drink or post-work out ingestion of a "gainer" or "recovery" drink shuts down gene expression that builds muscle.
Super Mike shows this clearly. Low muscle glycogen turns on gene expression that signals muscle development. How could it be otherwise in the evolutionary context? There were no gainer drinks, shakes, or supplements loaded with carbs. So, the genes had to express adaptation when it was called for. And that context is after an intense exertion. What would have been the reward from that exertion? Meat. A kill. What would that have contained? No high-carb "gainer" drink to replenish muscle glycogen. Rather, it would have contained low saturated fat, organs with abundant saturated fats and vitamin A. Consequently, the genes evolved to express muscle repair and development in that nutritional contexts. Hence, no sugar in the muscle when gene expression occured.
The other aspect of the hunt would have been a kind of awe at the majesty of an animal whose body supported the life of the hunter and his kin. Such an animal is worthy of worship and admiration because they had survived and thrived in that bountiful and dangerous environment. There is a thankfulness for that sacrifice and a relief that the dangerous hunt ended favorably. Religious rites, such as they may have been in the Paleolithic would have been in tribute to the majesty of the powerful animal whose body yielded the ingredients of life.
LINK · Everything · Comments (4)
Super Mike Again
More evidence on the TupperWare eating protocol (my take on the 6 meals a day with supplements and shakes or usual Fitness Trainer-advised eating program). This time from 54 year old Mike. He shows three pictures from four birthdays, ending with his 54.
Here is his statement:
Art,
You hit the nail on the head again.
What you described today about the six meals plus supplements is
exactly how I ate before I discovered Evolutionary Fitness.
Here's visual proof of how it makes you look.
Photos taken yearly on my birthday. (I think it's interesting how I'm
only smiling in the 2007 photo.)
With intermittent fasting and eating your way, I think I'm in a
caloric deficit two out of three days. And never felt or looked better.
Mike
And the visual proof (click on the picture to see all 3 years).
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (5)
Unproven Protocol
November 29, 2007 10:08 AM
A comment from a reader (not posted on the blog) got me thinking:
"Thanks for your great site, I hope to use your material effectively. Sadly my wife has joined a gym and gotten a trainer who handed her lots of supplements and bars (she's supposed to eat this junk food 3x/day as a healthy snack) and is prescribing frequent long workouts. Hopefully I can demonstrate to her with my own success that there is a better way)."
I had just spoken with a young guy who spent a summer training at a gym in San Diego. He looked no different than when he left. He followed the Unproven Protocol or what I like to call the TupperWare eating scheme. Have you seen how some of the trainers carry loads of TupperWare containers around with them containing their 6 meals? I suspect they hold TupperWare parties they have so many of them. (I have a previous post on this that I don't have time to look up right now.)
Eating all these meals prepared in advance along with the protein mixes, drinks, and bars is a completely unproven protocol. There is no research that I can find that documents its efficacy. It is more an article of faith, promolgated by the "fitness industry." I have read many criticisms of it by some leading scientists. And they point to the incentives of the industry and supplement makers to promote this disastrous eating regimen.
A primary concern is the total caloric load as well as the glycemic load of the scheme. Imagine a person who is in the gym to lose weight who is told to add supplements to a diet that has made them overweight. If they add supplements, then they have to cut calories elsewhere. The time they spend in the gym is not enough to put them into negative caloric balance in itself. If they then add supplements and shakes to their intake, they will go further into positive caloric balance.
Then there is the glycemic load (the glycemic index of the intake times its mass) of the supplements. Not only are the carbs in the supplements a source of calories, they are insulin driving calories that reduce insulin sensitivity and trigger metabolic pathways that direct nutrients to fat and shut down the body's access to its own fat sources. In fact, many supplements deliberately trigger insulin with simple carbs because the protocol reasons that insulin is an anabolic hormone. It is, but mostly anabolic for your fat deposits rather than your muscles. The hormonal profile created by this protocol is one that is favorable to storing fat rather than making muscle.
My main point is that there is no research that I can find that supports this weird eating pattern. How does it become part of the mainstream of fitness advice? No wonder so many people give up on the gym after they fail to lose weight. Following the TupperWare protocol makes it impossible. And, boy does it take time and kill your appreciation for good food.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (1)
Fat Men Can't Hunt
November 28, 2007 07:49 PM
Thanks to one of our readers for this link, which is derivative of the link he sent, both are fantastic.
The also great link our reader from England is Teens.
I still sometimes dream of the camp I would start for teens to live an evolutionary fitness lifeway for a month. Borneo might be too much, but Wyoming or Colorado or Utah might be nice. Some day when things are finished, including the book.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (2)
Non-punitive environmentalism
November 27, 2007 08:39 PM
We are all environmentalists. It is just that those who call themselves environmentalists have made the role unrealistic. Too many of them have turned into a bunch of anti-growth, statists whose aim seems to be to control others. It is a worthy cause to keep the planet clean and healthy. It is equally worthy to promote growth, freedom and property rights that foster a care for the environment. Too many, self-styled, Environmentalists (with a big E) are anti-growth (the main contributor to rising health and well-being). They are against freedom and property rights and appear primarily to seek a positive self-image, no matter what the cost. They want to be enlisted in a noble cause, but care little if your rights or the welfare of the third world suffers in the promotion of that cause.
William Nordhaus and his co-author have a new book on this subject. The review published in Opinion Journal is right on the mark. I met Nordhaus at a conference long ago and he is a serious and highly competent scholar. His argument is one that real environmentalists will embrace. It will disgrace the disservice to the environment and to humanity that is practiced under the flag of environmentalism. On the other hand, they may really be misanthropes who are effectively pursuing their agenda under whatever banner they can co-opt.
LINK · Everything ~ · Uncertainty · Comments (1)
Transfer Finished
It took a day or so, but the transfer to a new host with far more capacity is finally complete.
We now have 4 times the bandwidth that was limiting the blog and readership. We are headed for more than 2 million hits this month and have the capacity to go to about 4 million.
I want to add a forum where we can talk more about some of the issues that interest us. There are so many of them and new research is finally getting closer to what matters.
LINK · Everything · Comments (0)
How Long Did Hunter Gatherers Live?
November 21, 2007 04:01 PM
Many people compare the longevity of paleolithic humans with modern humans and conclude that the stone age life was perilous and brief. Often, the argument is made by vegans who want to show that meat eating clearly practiced by paleolithic hunter gathers is not healthful. People who are rightfully skeptical of the longevity consequences of a more paleolithic style of life such as I advocate and practice myself also question the longevity of our ancestors. A skeptical argument would be that our ancestors lived brief and nasty lives and we live longer and more pleasant lives than they so why should we emulate aspects of these ancient lifeways. The argument is sensible, but misdirected. The proper comparison is between paleolithic life expectancy and life expectancies of humans in the era before industrialization and greater wealth and before modern sanitation and medicine. The evidence is that neolithic and later humans lived no longer than paleolithic humans until well into the Industrial Revolution.
Empirical data shows that life of paleolithic humans was perilous, but it was no briefer than the life of neolithic farmers, romans, or modern humans until the advent of public sanitation and antibiotics. Remarkably, life expectancy in the city of London was so brief that the city relied on migration from outlying areas to sustain its population; the intrinsic rate of population growth was negative. It was only in the latter stages of the Industrial Revolution that the life expectancy of Londoners began to improve.
Ward Nicholson has done a fine job of assembling life expectancy figures from the scientific literature in his Life Expectancy
Bjorn Lumborg shows a remarkable graph in his The Skeptical Environmentalist that reveals the ups and downs, and remarkably brief, lives of humans over the ages. In the City of Rome, life expectancy was just 21 years, well below paleolithic levels.
Ward's life expectancy table follows, note the general decline in height as well as the change in longevity. Modern humans are only now approaching the height of our paleolithic ancestors.
Read More »LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (5)
Trainers and Bars
November 20, 2007 07:21 PM
WW is taking a Yoga Pilates class at our club. Nearly all the participants are trainers, young and still slim and teaching exercise and nutrition classes. She is the oldest in the class by far and seems to be able to do everything demanded. It took a few weeks but she is doing well and liking it. They do a few dangerous moves, using the legs and arms as long levers to stress the spine, but generally it is a good class.
The trouble starts when she discusses eating with the class members. She said today that she would probably skip dinner tonight because we were having a solid lunch. Right away three of them said oh no, never skip a meal. Eat a Whatever Bar, but don't miss a meal. It turns out that they go from class to class, teaching or taking, and seldom eat a real meal. They live on shakes and bars and protein mixes.
They have only the most trivial argument in favor of not skipping a meal, mostly derived from nitrogen balance considerations and a sensible, but misplaced, concern for small meals in order to diminish insulin spikes (if they could have explained it correctly). All this comes from body building/endurance athlete practices which have worked their way into mainstream practice with little or no scientific evaluation. So, instead, they eat what is pretty much junk food, disguised as health food. Moreover, they fail to understand that frequency of carbohydrate ingestion is also a contributor to insulin resistance. And, the stomach never gets a rest and begins to degenerate (sometimes called the diabetic stomach because diabetics depend on frequent meals and emergency snacks which add to the load on the digestive system).
Fortunately, they are young and very active and will be able to eat this junk food for some years before they take a toll. I know many coaches and athletic teachers who spend long hours on the teaching tee, tennis court, or gym who eat PowerBars, ProteinBars, and whatever they are called by the bushel basket. Far too many of them are covered with a deep layer of subcutaneous fat and others are frankly fat.
To a large degree, they are rationalizing their poor practice and making unsubstantiated claims for their goofy eating. It is an attitude widely shared in the "fitness community". And they are all too ready to argue against other methods. WW doesn't even bother to explain things to them anymore; their minds are closed.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Meals · Comments (3)
Bandwidth
The site hit a bandwidth limit last night. I raised the limit, but we are nearing that too. My hosting service has indicated they will raise my monthly limit to 100GB, but have not done so yet. Presently, the bandwidth limit is 60GB. I do think the messy comment interface is partly to blame and am going to fix it for sure real soon now. So, until the bandwidth is raised I think it might be useful to hold comments for later. Sorry about this. It is nice to see so much traffic. I will make the necessary changes to accommodate current traffic and new growth.
LINK · Everything · Comments (0)
Today's Workout
November 19, 2007 08:27 PM
After posting my blog entry regarding hierarchical workouts I went to the gym and did one. I was in and out in no time and felt great leaving and for the whole day after. There really is nothing more productive and the research is just now beginning to document what is evident (to me at least) from the physiology and the evolutionary record. But, you must see the Essay for more on that. And, yes I do the db rows alternating sides; one set on one side and then one on the other. As for the question about GH I will say that GH is known to be a protein conserving hormone that shifts metabolism away from protein to other sources of energy. Thus, with my work outs and rest and deep sleep favoring GH release I am able to fast (a fast releases GH also) and still retain or even build muscle mass.
For my work out today here is what I did. (I can't believe how good I feel even now from this work out and all I did today beyond it).
!. I did 30 leg presses to warm up and went straight into the 15, 8, 4 protocol. I ran out of weight on the leg press machine, but stayed with it anyway. I had to peg the machine on the last set and could have done far more than 4, but went to a slight burn anyway. Then I pressed up with both legs and lowered with one for 4 more negative.
2. I did standing leg curls in the same manner. 15, 8, 4 with increasing weight and speed with each set.
3. I did incline bb presses on the Smith machine in the same manner, but with no negative. Just 15, 8, and 4 to a good burn in each set.
4. I did the same protocol in the bent over deltoid raise through the legs that I have described in other posts.
5. Then I did a drop set of Arnold presses for the deltoids; as many as I could with a heavy weight (only 40 pounds by that stage), then a lighter weight for as many reps as I could, then a still lighter weight to slight failure.
6. I finished with a few curls on a machine, one set only and some crunches in the correct way and some bird dog poses on the bench press bench.
Then a nice walk in my neighborhood after a short drive home from the gym.
It was so easy, yet hard for a moment. This kind of work out gives you a toughness that makes life seem so easy. Every set hurt a bit and then came a harder one. But, when you move to the next exercise the pain goes away and you are ready for another hit.
I love it.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (7)
The Best Work out
The work out I always come back to and the very best for all round strength and muscularity, not to mention leanness is the hierarchical work out.
Briefly described, it is done in a hierarchy of movements and weights. Its objective is to ascend the fiber hierarchy from ST to FTa and FTb and then finish with an eccentric movement or explosive movement. A long discussion of this type of work out may be found in my Essay under the Research link at the top of this page.
The rest interval is nil, just long enough to change the weight on the bar, cable or machine. New research now confirms that this style of work out is best for muscle mass and for strength. It is equally effective in comparison to other routines for power. Of course, the researchers did not add the finishing touch that I do and I suspect they would have also found that my routine gives an edge for power as well.
Read the essay for a discussion of the theory behind the hierarchical work out. The essence is to promote a maximal anabolic hormone response and to shut off the stress hormone response through its brevity and relatively low volume.
You begin with a target of about 15 reps with a weight that is challenging, but do not go to failure. Just use the "burn" to know when to move on. Lower the weight more slowly than you raise it and increase the pace of the movement as you progress through the reps.
Then, with no rest, increase the weight and aim for about 8 reps with the same protocol. Then increase the weight again and aim for 4 reps in excellent form. Then do a couple of negatives if you can do so safely in that particular lift (few meet this standard, but some do). Then do an explosive move similar to the exercise or do drops.
My favorite way to do this was with squats, but there is no way to do negatives with squats and, for safety, you should not descend to full depth on the last set. If you alter the depth, progressing to less depth with the heavier weight, you will hit all the fibers in the hips and quads and at many angles and extensions. Hitting all the mass is the only way you will get a fullness and completeness to your musculature.
An example where this is quite safe is to do leg presses on a seated machine. Not one where you may get trapped under the weights. Do 15 presses, increase the weight and do 8, increase the weight and do 4. Then increase the weight or with the same weight press out with both legs and lower with just one leg. Do only 2 negatives this way. Then do some leaps either dropping off a bench to a rubber floor or holding a squat bar, placed on the rack, leap up as far as you can while holding the bar. Do as many as you can. Alternately, find a high bar you can leap up to and grab. Drop off and do it again, as many times as you are able.
You can do a similar protocol with a cable row or one-armed db rows. With the db rows, I do the first three sets, the ascending 15, 8, 4 and then just go down the rack doing one rep. Go right down the rack to the heaviest db you can do in excellent form. Don't try this until you have prepared with light weights. You will get so sore you might stay in bed a few days, not worth it. Perfect form always, stop as soon as form begins to break down.
Here is a recent abstract on short rest intervals. I am trying to obtain the other article I came across that further documents brief rest intervals for strength and mass gains. I am heading for the gym to begin my new sessions of hierarchical work outs. I am not recommending them for you; you must make that choice yourself. I used to work my 78 year old mother out this way. It is safe if you plan and take care. And the results are unbelievable. Keep it brief and do only 3 such movements in a single work out and get out of the gym. If you leave tired, you over did it. You should feel fresh and alive.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (3)
Contingency
November 18, 2007 09:12 AM
As I think I show in my book, Hollywood Economics, Hollywood has long been a leader in developing payment schemes that are contingent on outcomes. The "nobody knows" principle implies the contingency principle: if you don't know what a movie will earn, then you pay when you do know. That is to say, you base the pay of participants on the outcome through a contingent compensation contract.
The present Screen Writers strike is all about the inability of a platform-based form of compensation to reflect the value of the outcomes from movies and TV shows. As technology introduces new platforms or media through which to consume movies, the old platform based formulas cannot be stretched to reflect the value created in the new medium. So, there is the uncertainty of the outcome of a movie and the uncertainty of new platforms coming along to generate more revenue streams and higher-valued outcomes.
Daniel Mitchell, a professor of business at UCLA, has a brief piece about these sources of uncertainty and the writer's strike, from which I quote an excerpt below. There is a broader point in Dan's article however and that is to take the contingency principle over to government budgeting. Instead of funding programs at fixed levels over future years when the budget is not known, it is superior to fund them on a contingent basis. Bonds are bad because they lock the state into fixed payments which may become difficult to meet when revenues fall. State government revenues do fluctuate, enormously so in fact, so "nobody knows" what they will be in the future. The contingency principle says that you pay when you do know. Therefore, state programs should be funded on a contingent basis as a share of revenue rather than at a fixed level. This applies at the federal level too.
What is good for Hollywood is good for government since they both live in an uncertain world. The excerpt from Dan's article follows.
Read More »LINK · The Movie Business ~ · Uncertainty · Comments (3)
Today's Breakfast
November 17, 2007 11:13 AM
As you can see, this is some leftover steak with fruit. I may skip lunch as the meal was very satisfying. I do skip meals often with absolutely no concern that I am "losing" muscle through negative nitrogen balance. My GH is so high that my body conserves protein and consumes fat. And, you already know that the microphagy consumes damaged proteins and fuels their replacement with new, undamaged protein.
Those who may think my diet is lacking in carbohydrate will see that there is adequate carbohydrate in the fruit. But, it is loaded with nutrients and potent antioxidants and phytonutrients, something that is lacking in flour-based and carb-drink sources.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Meals · Comments (4)
walking Running Jogging
November 16, 2007 11:07 AM
Two researchers at Princeton have modeled human energy expenditure over a wide range of movements. It turns out that the most efficient form of locomotion is walking, followed by running, followed by a slow plodding run that resembles a very tired jogger.
Of these, I much prefer the first two and, remarkably, they are a bit more efficient. And a whole lot more fun.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Sports · Comments (0)
Surf and turf EF style
Barbecued pork ribs with one King Crab leg and WW's home made cole slaw. We got several meals out of one box of crab legs, so the expense was not that high. The ribs we just enjoy so much we have them about once a week. The leftovers are great for breakfast or lunch the next day.
P.S. my new camera is higher resolution and I have to weaken the image. Let me know if the pixel count is too high and slows the download too much.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Meals · Comments (2)
Islam and Tribalism
November 15, 2007 10:02 AM
Read Stanley Kurtz' deep historical analysis of the Waziristan region of Pakistan and the origins of Islamic Fundamentalism Tribes of Terror in this Claremont Institute Review of Books article.
LINK · Everything · Comments (0)
Norman, A nice boy who hit early and lost his way, if he ever knew it
November 14, 2007 09:46 PM
Norman Mailer was one of the wonder boys of campy, leftist, self-centered, America hating writers who made it. An adolescent radical and would-be sexual conquestor (Che are you listening?) What a fraud. Just like Dylan Thomas (whose poetry I tried to read because women loved it. I was young, what can I say?), he was a confused fraud, caught up in the media love (is there anything more superficial?). I doubt he believed anything he said. I only put this link up Roger Kimbell Exposes Mailer because WW was watching Hannity and Colmes last night and they replayed a Mailer interview. What a self-absorbed foolish man who thought himself profound. Though now and then a reader tells me I am not, I know it. No one is as profound as Mailer thought he was or as the press made him out to be. And then there is the $23 million someone just paid for a Warhol painting. Is he/she hoping for a bigger fool later to pay more. Remember, at some point a tulip bulb cost as much as a city block in downtown Amersterdam.
LINK · Everything · Comments (0)
Meal Frequency and Carbs
This is a very interesting post by one of our readers (I have left parts of it out to shorten it):
I posted here recently, about my eating habits. Meats, vegetables, and high quality fats. The difference between my daily habits and the total Ev Fit, De Vany approach was two fold: 1) I ate 100 grams Carbohydrate a day in the form of brown rice; and 2) I ate only one main meal a day, and several small home made jerky snacks.Following my post, the community advice was to eat more than once a day, and to completely get rid of the rice. These suggestions are not new. Following Ray Auduettes works and what I could find on the benefits of low insulin, I tried to cut out all grains for a period of time. From 2000-2002, I ate no grain. Problem is, I had a hard time. I felt almost constantly disoriented and weak this way. I had other health problems that were likley affecting or causing this. Those health problems are, for purposes of this post, irrelevant. What was relevant is that I felt awful, confused etc, when I omited the 100 grams of rice.
I had been concerned when, some months ago, during a semi0routine blood test, my fasting blood glucose came back at 99. I followed this up under doctor supervision and was given a 8 hour fasting glocuse and insulin test. In the morning, after my one large meal, I started the day at 100 glucose reading. 2 hours later it was 94, 2 more, 90, 2 more 89. My insuling levels during this time dropped from 11 to 6, where I had to assume they remained until my one large meal.
Ok, clearly not optimal, but this is the intereting part...I obtained a glucose meter and continued to take my blood glucose levels at home. Routinely, they started at 100, and dropped to 89-85 by dinner time. Not great, but not awful. A few weeks ago, I made one change to my approach: I got rid of rice completely, and take my 100 grams of carbohydrate as fruit. That was the only change. I then measured, and varified thrice, that my blood sugar levels are now 84, when I wake, dropping to 77 or so, when I eat. Much better.
From my personal monitoring of my Type 1 diabetic son and deceased wife for 30 years, I do know that food alone can make a substantial difference in blood glucose levels. Similarly, it can affect the amount of insulin, whether endogenously produced or exogenously injected, that is required to control blood sugar in the presence of simple (often called complex when it is starch that is only an enzyme away from sugar) carbohydrate in the food.
A small amount of pasta was enough to put their blood sugars over the top (300 or 400). Administering insulin to control the surge just packed the sugar into fat cells and began the progression toward insulin resistance that is the ban of many type 1 diabetics who use insulin to control their poor eating.
It was through this constant monitoring that we evolved the Evolutionary Fitness diet. In the poster's comment about surging blood sugars and lack of focus, it is pretty clear that the 100 grams of rice combined with relatively high insulin level was causing cycling of blood sugar and insulin. The ingestion of the rice would relieve a transitorily low blood sugar, and the accompanying mental confusion or exhaustion, with a surge of sugar. Only to be followed by a surge of insulin that would drop the blood glucose again, maybe even to a lower level then before the ingestion of rice. An up/down cycling of carbs and insulin, accompanied by stress hormone release and increased sympathetic tone, is exhausting and damaging.
Until the source of cycling is removed, it is a self-perpetuating cycle. Eliminating the simple carbs in the rice does temporarily reduce blood glucose because of the high level of insulin along with the resistance that develops. The way out seems to be to drop the hit of simple carbs in a large serving and to eventually eliminate it completely. This promotes a fall in basal insulin levels, but you don't want to go cold turkey if you have to drive or function as the high insulin in the absence of adequate blood glucose will put one into a kind of diabetic shock with its attendant confusion.
Exercise and intermittent fasting restore insulin sensitivity. But, this is the sort of thing you should talk over with a doctor as you progress to reductions in simple carbs and gradually lower your basal insulin level. The really bad part of all this is that there are a lot of high insulin people out there who can "bonk" from low blood sugar if they don't get their carb hit. And then after the hit wears off, they may "bonk" again. They may be driving when this happens and are easily angered and lose concentration. They can be a danger to themselves and others when this happens. I would bet a fair number of auto accidents could be traced to blood glucose/insulin surges.
Marathon Kids
November 11, 2007 06:56 PM
If you ever have doubts that the marathon life style is presented as a model of health and well-being, have a look at what the movement is starting to do with our kids. Getting children to move and love fitness is wonderful, but there are so many more healthful and rewarding ways to do this that I can't support it. Then again, children's football has little in its favor and is just as apt to kill a child with a heart condition as marathoning. All competitive sports really ought to cut back on the age and degree of competition in children's sports. Few of them are truly healthy exercises or activities for children below the age of 14 and the old saw that "life is competitive and competitive sports teach lessons for life" is refuted day after day as pro athletes strike plea bargains on various charges and fall into drugs and wife beating.
A more balanced discussion of marathoning and running for kids is Marathons for Kids.
To enter a child in marathoning, even on a modest scale, a parent ought to do rather expensive screening for heart conditions, least they lose the child. The continuous exertion close to the limits of the cardiovascular system promotes ischemia of the heart. Play is far different from the monotonous, chronic exertion of marathoning. Children need to play.
My thanks to a reader for pointing out to me the growing intrusion of marathoning and organizations that promote it into the lives of our children.
LINK · Endurance Training: Death, Injury, and Risk · Comments (3)
Powerful Hunter Gatherers
November 10, 2007 01:57 PM
These pictures of New Guinea highland males (part agriculturalist and part hunter gatherer) and the sketch of North American Indians are an interesting contrast to the playful Photoshop picture of the body builder ultimate from a previous post.
Wig master, an older male.
Mud men, prime age warriors.
North American Indians, powerfully muscled (early lumber jacks?).
An older modern hunter gatherer male who looks familiar.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (6)
Farm Subsidies
November 9, 2007 11:21 AM
A note from the Patriot Post:
The Senate began debate this week on a $280-billion agricultural bill that has something for everyone, except those searching for common sense. The House passed a $286-billion version last summer, and the Senate version is being debated not just by the farm states, but also unions, immigration advocates and energy lobbyists. Amendments were proposed to protect immigrant workers, thought to be vital to agricultural production, and ethanol producers, who refuse to accept that corn-based ethanol will continue to drive up food prices without providing the supposed benefits of energy independence. Republicans have no reason to support this legislation because its needless subsidies run counter to the GOP’s free-market, small-government ideology. Democrats should be against it because it funnels well over two-thirds of the subsidies to large corporate farms while leaving small family operations devoid of financial support. Yet both parties are falling over themselves to add more pork to the bill. Why? It’s all about the votes, of course, which often requires bringing home the bacon.
According to the top economists gathered in Bjorn Lomborg's Copenhagen Consensus, eliminating farm subsidies in the first world and liberalizing trade would produce annual benefits of $2.4 trilion, with half of that accruing to the third world. Even if you paid off existing recipients of subsidies the benefit for each dollar spent to do that would bring $15 of benefits. Not only is the crass vote buying in the farm bill bad for US taxpayers and the world economy, it is particularly harmful to the under developed part of the world.
LINK · Everything · Comments (0)
The Ultimate?
Never my model.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (7)
Over Training and sudden death
November 7, 2007 02:34 PM
I have searched for a good source on sudden death in athletes for some time now. Finally, I found an excellent one put up by the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Sudden Death in Athletes.
The most common cause is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). That large, slow-beating "athletic" heart may kill you. So can alcohol, energy drinks, and steroids. Which activity is most dangerous? You may see why I play tennis now. Weight lifting didn't make the grade, but competitive lifting is such a small sport. In part, the sports with the most participation rank highest. The incidence per athlete in the sport is not really known.
According to the Institute:
"Systemic training in endurance (dynamic, aerobic) or isometric sports (static, power) has been known to increase cardiac mass and dimensions, and trigger structural remodeling in many athletes (18-22). This form of hypertrophy is physiologic and is regarded as an adaptation to systematic athletic training, and therefore was termed "athlete’s heart." The changes include enlargement of left and right ventricles and left atrium; however the function of the heart remains preserved. Physiologic increases in cardiac mass vary in magnitude according to sporting discipline. For example, the most extreme cavity dimensions and/or wall thickness have been reported with rowing, cross-country skiing, cycling and swimming. Weight lifting and wrestling have been associated with abnormal increases in left ventricular wall thickness disproportionate to cavity size."
I noted the disruption of contraction pulses, ischemia or blood loss and consequent damage to heart muscle in an earlier post. That damage is then infiltrated by scar tissue and, as a result, the contraction waves become disorganized and arrhythmia may follow.
Read More »LINK · Endurance Training: Death, Injury, and Risk ~ · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (4)
Mood Change after a work out
An interesting question from a reader that I have had to sort out for myself too. I find, as does Joe, that if I work out very intensely that I have a mood change a day or two later. Strangely, the hard work out seems to happen because I feel so good at the time that I want to do more. I have learned to avoid this feeling as Rodney Dangerfield advises, I sit down when I get the urge to exercise.
For me it is the second day that hits me most. Of course, this is the interval for DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness as it is called in the literature. A very hard work out damages a lot of muscle tissue and triggers a surge of stress hormones, activates macrophages to consume damaged proteins (a benefit as it recycles the material to fuel rebuilding and renews the cell), triggers inflammation in the sore tissues. But, it is likely that the cytokines are the real culprit. Just how they do this and promote soreness is something I have not been able to discover.
Why go through this? There is no need and the loss of time and mood change is not worth it. It is likely that so much damage is done in this sort of hard work out that any progress you are seeking is set back; I suspect it leaves you worse off physically than if you had followed Dangerfield's advice and done nothing. So, I don't work out that hard any more. I just feel challenged and that I am up to the challenge.
But, Joe's discussion highlights other matters that we should pay attention to. One of them is how close to exhaustion many people live as a result of their obsession with exercise or fitness. It seems Joe did this for years, mostly as a result of excess running. Another is the sugar obsession many runners have or develop from their excess reliance on carbohydrates to fuel their high activity. Another is the longer term depression or mood suppression that can develop from chronic over training of any kind. Mike, our 54 year old wonder from the last post, also had what seems to be a generally depressed mood and was drowsy often during his body builder/high cardio days. He was even going to up his cardio load because he was too fat from the body builder diet and eating pattern he was on.
I really do think most chronic body builders and runners are way over training, damaging themselves and their mood.
Read More »LINK · Complex Systems ~ · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (4)
From Body Building to Evolutionary Fitness
November 6, 2007 09:33 AM
I will just let Mike tell his story about his conversion from a body building approach to Evolutionary Fitness. He is the leanest, most muscular, and fit 54 year old you may ever see.
Take a look and then read his story below.
Art,
It’s been a little over a year since I seriously started following your evolutionary advice. I wanted to write you earlier, but I thought I would give it an entire year before I did. Plus I wanted to get the results from my annual physical.
Before I started reading your website, I was in pretty good shape. Good strength… but soft looking. Especially for as much as I worked out. 4 days of weights a week with 2 days of cardio. But, I just didn’t feel good. I was tired a lot. Not as sharp mentally as I felt I should be. And I couldn’t seem to get lean and be strong at the same time.
After following your writings, I see why.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (3)
Reader Comments on my latest workout
November 5, 2007 10:33 AM
Some have wondered whether my work out exceeds my general rule of No More Than 40 MInutes. There is a lot of volume in the work out, at least for my usual work out. But, I do it in about 35 minutes with no rush. I refuse to look at the clock as I work out or to rush in general in anything. As Nassim says, don't run for trains. I don't.
I generally do not like the Smith machine, but use it for safety and would not recommend the work out with out keeping the safety of my readers in mind. The movement is a bit unnatural, but the Smith machine does make things go quickly and in safety. You can do the squat pullover cycle, the rows, and the incline presses at one station. And it goes to quickly you don't tie the machine up for others the way some people do.
I don't do all the sets all the time. Right now, just 3 cycles on the squat pullover as I ease into the work out. My training up until now has been softball and sprints with some hitting off a tee. So, this is a new work out for me at this time. On the curls, I do only one set of concentration curls, including the negatives. I do not like thick arms and find they get in the way. So, that is plenty. I do include a Romanian Dead Lift to make sure my posture is locked in. Just a light one with emphasis on form. I bottom out when I feel a bit of tension in my hams and then straighten back out. I also do crunches and the Horse at the end of the work out, one set each. And, I stretch my damaged (from a motorcycle crash racing motocross 10 years ago) shoulder on a bench just before I leave.
If the work out takes more than 35 or 40 minutes, then pick up the pace and don't rest so much between sets as you are told to do by the BB mags.
I find it is an easy and fun work out that leaves me feeling fresh. I will get too big on it and will move to something else in a few weeks.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (1)
Running to Death
Several people sent links to the running death of Ryan Shay. Mark Sisson sent it and so did PaleoGal. Mark also sent a link on Alberto Salazar, a premiere runner who has run himself close to death several times. He had at one time been described as "a man who once heard testers declare his cardio output to be the greatest they had ever measured." Note also the severe loss of muscle mass associated with marathon training, one that Salazar tries to avoid in his trainees. No wonder they look like ghosts. When I saw some of the participants of our recent Huntsman Senior Games Marathon in St. George, they looked like the walking injured and near dead. If I can be a bit whimsical about it all, remember my Top 10 Reasons Not to Run Marathons. One of my most important (and criticized) posts. It may be sinking in. The evidence is close to overwhelming.
LINK · Endurance Training: Death, Injury, and Risk ~ · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Sports · Comments (4)
Calorie Restriction Society
November 4, 2007 05:28 PM
I spoke at an earlier conference of the CR Society and really enjoyed the discussion and the other presentations. Their San Antonio conference is coming up November 11. If you have a chance to go, it is well worth your time. Dr. Krikorian is the organizer, a name you will recognize from earlier posts. Go to the link anyway to learn more about CR.
LINK · Complex Systems ~ · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Meals · Comments (0)
Poor Eating and Depression
I received this uplifting, though still sad, comment from a reader. It points to the often discussed linkage between poor eating and depression. Yet, it points, not in the usual way from depression to poor eating, but the other way from poor eating to depression. That is to say that poor eating can be a cause of or contributor to depression. It also adds to the discussion of the merits of eating vs. exercise.
Take note of the issue with green tea. It is known that the source of green tea is a region of China that produces tea that is high in sulphur and other allergenic substances. I wouldn't drink it myself.
Another issue is the linkage between an allergic response to a food, such as wheat bread, and craving. Humans seek the slight "high" that comes with ingesting an allergenic food or drink. The high comes from a burst of adrenalin in response to the allergenic substance as the body arms itself against this stressor. Food is surely one of the major stressors in one's life: toxins, allergens, and carbohydrates that abound in our food put the body into an inflammatory response. The surge of insulin is the body's attempt to save itself from the damage of excess blood glucose and the stress hormones kick up the heart rate to burn off this toxic sludge. At the same time, the stress response lessens insulin sensitivity. A dangerous self-reinforcing feed back loop occurs each time you binge on simple carbs or fat. A few such shocks can create such a large and powerful feedback that you undo much of the months or weeks of good eating. Remember, it is the big events in life that shape it. A binge is a major determinant of your metabolic fitness. The body "remembers" these big events as they are imprinted on your hypothalmus and insulin receptors.
"Greetings.
Your blog is the greatest! If I had the need for a Bible of some sort, your blog would be it.
Two years ago, in November, I discovered the book The Rosedale Diet. Then, within a month, I read Loren Cordain,the book 'Neanderthin' and Candace Pert's audio tapes "Your body is your subconscious mind" and her book "The Molecules of Emotions".
Rosedale having convinced me, never mind a few internal contradictions in his advice, I very loosely applied the principles and I dropped from 245+ to 205 in about three or four months. I did that *without* exercise. I work from home. I am also quite depressed, and have been subject to intense panic attacks. I'm male, 45, with a scientific university education.
Read More »LINK · Evolutionary Fitness ~ · Meals · Comments (2)
Robb Wolf's report on exercise vs. diet
November 3, 2007 09:25 AM
Continuing the discussion of diet v. exercise, Robb sent in this case study.
He included these "before" and "after" pictures of his friends.
Two very attractive people who were encased in a layer of flab transformed into their natural types. So many people you see today have this same "before" appearance, puffy and misshapen, sort of swollen and with a touch of inflammation showing in the face. Note the improvement in their skin in addition to the bodies. I would guess their blood lipid and hormone profiles are profoundly improved as well.
The "before" and "after" test here is not as clear as it could be to separate the diet or exercise elements because his friends had only been following the CrossFit program for a couple of months during a period when they were eating appalling food. They were, however, quite active in their work detailing cars and boats.
So, the "before" pictures are 2 months into CrossFit, but still eating badly. The "after" pictures are 3 months (a correction of my earlier post Robb pointed out to me) later of CrossFit and Paleo/EF eating. I just show the pictures here. Read Robb's full discussion here in a Word doc.
The results are convincing that EF or CrossFit Paleo works wonderfully. And, it is clear that an active job combined with terrible eating doesn't give you a good body composition or appearance. As to the importance of one or the other, I don't see a clue to point one way or the other. But, no one following the blog would attempt to eat terribly and engage in EF training. It is a package and a way of life that will transform anyone. I have another report coming up soon from a mid 50's practitioner who achieved sensational results by changing from a body builder style of exercise and diet to EF.
LINK · Evolutionary Fitness · Comments (3)
Death Penalty for victims
November 2, 2007 10:14 AM
I don't like the death penalty, but I am in favor of it because it saves innocent lives. John Lott discusses the evidence and the stay placed by Supreme Court as it considers lethal injections.
The innocent lives that are saved by executions are, unfortunately, not visible and there is no one to demonstrate in their favor. Until it is too late and they are murdered by some savage.
I conjecture that the preventive effect of executions is understated even in the most sophisticated research. And the deterrence effect may also be larger than is found in most studies. There are several reasons for this.
1. Killers claim multiple victims. If they are executed the chain is ended. If they are put in prison, they may be paroled and strike again. This requires a longitudinal study that is difficult to do and most studies seem to take a more or less cross-sectional approach because that is how the data are assembled. While in prison, killers do kill other prisoners, they injure or kill guards, and they may direct or encourage murder by their fellow criminals who remain outside prison in retribution for being put away. This case by case, time series evidence is far more powerful than the aggregative statistics can show, but often fails to get the proper weight because it cannot usually be put to the common statistical tests.
2. The incentive to kill is dramatically altered by the possibility of execution. This is shown by the attempts of killers to enlist others to do the killing. Gangs will recruit underage children who can kill without the fear of execution. Mobsters hire professional killers. So do aggrieved wives and husbands and business partners. Convicted killers go to great lengths to avoid execution.
3. The deterrence effect of armed potential victims is the dual of the death penalty. Killers are far more likely to kill unarmed victims than armed ones, showing that the fear of death or injury looms large in their decision. The same fear of being killed by a potential victim is present if the killer is instead facing the possibility of execution. They are two sides of the same coin.
4. Murder is a rare and horrendous event. The usual regression analyses and risk analyses are smoothed and averaged and made all too normal. Murder requires a statistical model that is either distribution-free or uses a more exotic extreme value or fractal distribution to more accurately reflect the probabilities.
The lives of the victims saved have to somehow be weighed against the life of the killer. I don't see that in the arguments of the advocates of ending the death penalty. We know there is a decision bias we all tend to have that underweights the prospect of multiple deaths of unknown victims against the execution of a known individual. Kahneman and Tversky showed this long ago, though their examples are somewhat different from this frightening calculation. We must make it however and overcome our bias if we are to clearly understand the issue and save innocent lives.
LINK · Everything ~ · Uncertainty · Comments (2)
Gaining Mass
The problem Minger describes in this quote from his comment is not atypical.
I'm an ecto(upper)/meso(lower), 5'10 145 lbs, 11% bf. I biked and ran stairs a lot as a kid so my legs are much larger and can gain muscle there easily; didn't do much with the upper body -- and can't do much with it now.
This categorization has been overstated for a long time. While it is true that genes and activity shape the body, none of this is fixed. Remember the German twins whose pictures I discussed quite some time ago (see Twins in the search engine); one was a runner, the other was a strength athlete and they looked as different as Dorian Yates and an Ethiopian distance runner.
It is more a matter of what stimuli you give the genes that express muscle. One thing you may be doing is too little volume to build mass. Evolutionary Fitness is designed to produce lean fast twitch muscle and athletic builds. To develop more FT mass you have to do more volume and convert the FT 2 into FT 1 fibers. This will make the ST fibers proliferate. Body builders are mostly ST and FT 1 types from their high volume workouts. Their high vascularity is a direct result of increased ST mass as this muscle type requires a higher blood flow than the FT fibers. Moreover, the sheer volume of work with little down time does not permit the overexpression of FT 2 fibers that I rely on in my EF work. Long intervals of other activity and between work outs permits the regression of FT 1 fibers into FT 2 fibers. The FT 2 stage seems to be the natural state of muscle, owing likely to the first moving creatures who relied on fermentation as an energy source in an anaerobic environment such as mud.
Another odd thing is that to build upper body mass you have to do squats since they are the largest mass of muscle and stimulate a large GH response. So, as others suggested I think Minger ought to do something like the following to build upper mass.
1. The first objective is to expand and lift the chest cavity or rib cage. Do this with a squat pullover cycle. Do 2 cycles at first, then progress to 4.
One cycle is a breathing squat followed by a db pullover with deep breaths. Do 15 to 30 deep knee bends on a Smith machine. Set the stops so that you can drop out of the squat if you need to and stay safe. Take a couple of deep breaths between each squat and expel the air on the lift up. Then go directly to db pullovers. Lie across the bench put a db in both hands with your shoulders on the bench. Arch your back and take a deep breath as you lower the weight and drop your hips a bit. Work up to 4 cycles, but be careful if you get dizzy from over ventilation.
2. Next get your upper traps, deltoids, and lats, another large muscle group that will aid the GH release. Do a series of rows at varying angles. Use the Smith machine again so you don't strain your back lifting the barbell off the floor. Set the stops at heights that permit you to fully extend your arms when you lower the bb. Start bent over slightly with a wide grip on the bar. Raise the weight up, but never more than to a right angle at your elbow. Do 15. Then, with a brief rest to increase the weight and set the stops lower, bend at about 15 degrees and do another 15 reps. Then reset weight and stops and bend 30 degrees and do 15. Then bend to 45 or 60 degrees and do it all again. Then all the way to 90 degrees. That makes 4 sets in one cycle. Do 2 at first, and progress to 4 cycles. (Getting the idea about what volume is?)
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