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.

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.

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.

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.

Human Movement

Of these, I much prefer the first two and, remarkably, they are a bit more efficient. And a whole lot more fun.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Never my model.

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.

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.