Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle
Doug McGuff, MD recently posted an article on ultimate-exercise.com on the effects of resistance training on aging, calling attention to a study published in PLoS ONE showing a reversal of aging in over 500 genes. (Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA, Beckman K, Felkey K, Hubbard A (2007) Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle. PLoS ONE 2(5): e465. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000465)
Abstract
Human aging is associated with skeletal muscle atrophy and functional impairment (sarcopenia). Multiple lines of evidence suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction is a major contributor to sarcopenia. We evaluated whether healthy aging was associated with a transcriptional profile reflecting mitochondrial impairment and whether resistance exercise could reverse this signature to that approximating a younger physiological age. Skeletal muscle biopsies from healthy older (N = 25) and younger (N = 26) adult men and women were compared using gene expression profiling, and a subset of these were related to measurements of muscle strength. 14 of the older adults had muscle samples taken before and after a six-month resistance exercise-training program. Before exercise training, older adults were 59% weaker than younger, but after six months of training in older adults, strength improved significantly (P<0.001) such that they were only 38% lower than young adults. As a consequence of age, we found 596 genes differentially expressed using a false discovery rate cut-off of 5%. Prior to the exercise training, the transcriptome profile showed a dramatic enrichment of genes associated with mitochondrial function with age. However, following exercise training the transcriptional signature of aging was markedly reversed back to that of younger levels for most genes that were affected by both age and exercise. We conclude that healthy older adults show evidence of mitochondrial impairment and muscle weakness, but that this can be partially reversed at the phenotypic level, and substantially reversed at the transcriptome level, following six months of resistance exercise training.
The full paper can be read here.
Towards the end of the intruduction, the paper states,
“We report here that healthy older adults show a gene expression profile in skeletal muscle consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction and associated processes such as cell death, as compared with young individuals. Moreover, following a period of resistance exercise training in older adults, we found that age-associated transcriptome expression changes were reversed, implying a restoration of a youthful expression profile.”
Notice they didn’t say that resistance training slowed or stopped the age-associated transcriptome (set of genetic instructions for how to build proteins) expression changes - it reversed them. Like Dr. McGuff says in his article, this is the closest thing there is to a fountain of youth. If everybody regularly engaged in proper strength training we’d have an elderly population far healthier, more independent, and enjoying a much greater all-around quality of life. Barring accidents, diseases and other disasters, most would probably also live significantly longer.
Dr. McGuff made an interesting observation based on the study that the low-intensity, long-duration aerobic “exercise” so often recommended as healthy activity may actually contribute to aging:
“If we embrace this concept of aging (the gap between maximal and minimal output), and the type of training that enhances this capability; then we must acknowledge that there is a type of exercise which can produce the opposite result. Low intensity, steady state exercise will actually accelerate aging by this definition.”
The explanation that follows is probably one of the strongest arguments I’ve read against traditional low-intensity, long-duration cardio. It’s too long to post here, so I strongly recommend going there and reading it. In a nutshell (and greatly oversimplified) the changes resulting from low-intensity, long-duration exercise may interfere with the type of exercise adaptations the above study has shown to reverse age-associated transcriptome expression changes
Lawsuit Alleges CrossFit Workout Damaging
There is an article in the Navy Times on a former sailor suing for permanent injury resulting in disability he claims resulted from a CrossFit workout. The article states:
“Several [experts] in the sports medicine field (military and civilian) have addressed a concern that the program has the potential for causing an increased incidence of musculoskeletal injuries and even muscle breakdown (rhabdomyoloysis) and therefore is not supported by [Navy Center for Personal and Professional Development],” the story states. “Granted, anyone can develop a program that’s very intense, but there’s a safer way of doing this for our sailors.” Picker could not be reached for comment.”
Later in the article,
“Several physicians, including Walter Reed Army Medical Center neurophysiologist Lt. Col. Mark Landau, concluded that Mimms suffered severe injuries following his intense CrossFit workout, according to court records.
The injuries included rhabdomyolysis, lumbosacral spine strain and strain of the bilateral quadriceps, according to court documents. As a result of these injuries, Mimms was incapacitated, lost time from work and required surgery, court records show.”
Without knowing the specific workout performed I can’t be certain, but I think it’s a safe bet the spine and quadriceps injuries resulted from performing one or more Olympic lifts or other exercises in an explosive manner.
This was the point of the CrossFit post I wrote a few weeks back. Many of the exercises recommended and the sloppy form resulting from attempting to move too quickly carry an unnecessarily high risk of injury. The same or better benefits could be had from replacing the Olympic lifts and other explosive movements with exercises that can be performed without reliance on momentum and using stricter form. I have some clients who regularly perform modified versions of the CrossFit routines Fran, Diane and Cindy (many of the CrossFit routines have women’s names) to focus on metabolic and cardiovascular conditioning, and none have have been injured in the process. By replacing the explosive movements with exercises performed in a controlled fashion the routines can be performed with a much lower risk of injury while maintaining the high level of metabolic and cardiovascular demand.
The thrusters in Fran (combined squat and press) can be performed in a controlled fashion, and the kipping pull-ups in both Fran and Cindy and can be replaced with strict pull-ups or chin-ups. I have one client with a grade 3 spondylolisthesis at L5-S1 and others with various knee and back problems who have been able to perform these routines with no problems. If these people can do them safely, they certainly shouldn’t cause spine and quadriceps injuries in a healthy person.
“The suit claims Mimms suffered from rhabdomyolysis — which occurs when tiny shreds of muscle fiber are absorbed by the bloodstream and ultimately poison the kidneys — as a result of performing a CrossFit workout under the direction of Lopez, who worked as Ruthless Training Concepts trainer at the now-defunct Manassas World Gym.”
I do not believe rhabdomyolysis is a problem with CrossFit training any more than it is a problem with high intensity training or any other exercise method, but rather a failure of the trainee or instructor to properly scale the routine to their current level of conditioning. Any workout can cause this if the intensity and volume exceed what is appropriate for the trainee. In addition to prescribing workouts of appropriate intensity and volume, the chances of developing rhabdomyolysis can be reduced by staying adequately hydrated and keeping the training environment as cool as possible. Extra care should be taken with trainees with kidney problems or other conditions such as sickle-cell trait which predispose them to a greater risk of developing rhabdomyolysis.
Trainees should be motivated to perform to the best of their abilities, and to train at a high level of intensity, but not encouraged to push harder or do more than they can handle.
References:
Kark JA, Ward FT. Exercise and hemoglobin S. Semin in Hematol. 1994;31:181-225.
Survival of the Fittest
“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.”
- Mark Rippetoe
The phrase “survival of the fittest” refers to the process of natural selection - the members of a species best suited to survival in their environment are more likely to live long enough to reproduce and pass along their genes, with each successive generation becoming better suited - more fit - to survive in that environment. Having already been born, there is little we can do to improve our fitness in the genetic/evolutionary sense. That is decided for us at the moment of conception. However, we can and should do everything we can to improve every aspect of our fitness in the physical sense.
In most parts of the world natural selection no longer operates the way it does in the wild due to agricultural and medical advancements and cultural and societal changes. These changes have lowered the genetic bar for survival significantly - have almost gotten rid of the bar altogether. Advancements in labor saving devices and easy access to calorie dense food have compounded this by minimizing the physical effort required for daily survival to practically nothing, resulting in a society that is mostly weak, slow and fat. Most people alive now in developed countries would be incapable of handling the physical demands of the day to day lives of our ancestors, and would have no hope of surviving in such an environment. There would, however, be far fewer hungry bears and lions. › Continue reading
A Moment of Silence
Nautilus inventor and exercise science pioneer Arthur Jones died exactly one year ago today. I ask that those of you who know him or were influenced by him please take a moment of silence at some point today to reflect on what he has contributed to the field of exercise and to each of us personally.
I first met Arthur in 1997 at a MedX presentation in Maitland, FL, and was fortunate to have spoken with him by phone several times over the years and visited him at his home in Ocala. Actually, as those who knew Arthur would tell you, I did a lot more listening than speaking, since a conversation with him was more like attending a lecture than having a two-way exchange.
I probably would not be where I am today, doing what I’m doing, if not for Arthur Jones. The two biggest direct influences on my training and my career were Mike Mentzer and Ken Hutchins, both employees of Nautilus and heavily influenced by Arthur. Many of the other people who have directly influenced me, Ellington Darden, Jim Flanagan, Joe Mullen, etc., also worked for and were friends of Arthur, and are all brilliant men in their own right. I am grateful to all of them for their generosity in sharing their time and knowledge.
Ripped Abs
Contrary to the idiotic recommendations of most current ab training books, courses and group class instructors, it is neither necessary nor beneficial to perform dozens of high rep sets of a wide variety of abdominal exercises. You also don’t need different exercises for your lower and upper abs, and you don’t need stability balls, special slings, benches, or any other gimmicky crap. In fact, you don’t need any direct abdominal exercise at all to get ripped abs. All that is necessary is to reduce body fat to very low levels, and that has far more to do with diet than exercise.
Drew Baye
Regardless of the strength or development of your superficial abdominal muscles, if your body fat level is low enough they will show good separation due to the muscle being divided into distinct “blocks” by lines of connective tissue. I performed no direct abdominal exercise for over half a year prior to the photo to the left being taken, yet had extremely good abdominal definition simply due to having reduced my body fat to the low single digits. My routine during that time was very basic, especially compared to the kind of unnecessarily complex routines being promoted by the internet ripped abs “experts”. It consisted of of only one set each of stiff-legged deadlifts, leg presses, pulldowns, chest presses, rows, and calf raises, along with occasional barbell curls and cable tricep press-downs. No crunches, sit ups, leg raises, knee raises, planks, twists or bends of any kind.
Indirect Effect
If you regularly perform chin-ups, pull-ups (especially with additional weight), heavy pull-downs, pullovers, standing presses or even just very heavy cable tricep press-downs, your abdominal muscles receive quite a bit of indirect work stabilizing the body during those exercises. Little additional abdominal work is necessary, and the primary benefit of any additional direct abdominal work is improved trunk strength for being able to better handle weight in those other movements and for protecting the back, not the appearance of your abs. Abdominal muscle development makes absolutely no difference at all if body fat levels are not low enough. Your primary purpose for training abs should be performance and spine health, and not appearance. › Continue reading
Redesigning Drew Baye’s High Intensity Training
Over the next week or two there may be times when the site will not work properly or graphics may be missing. I will be trying and possibly customizing different WordPress themes for the site and may make a bit of a mess of it at times. Rather than take the site down until it’s ready, I’m going to leave it online since I’d rather have it be ugly and the info be available than not have it there for people who want to read it.
As always your feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
New Article by Doug McGuff, MD
Dr. Doug McGuff has posted a new article on high intensity training and non-exercise activity thermogenesis over at ultimate-exercise.com. SuperSlow and HIT trainees and instructors, especially those of the more hardcore anti-aerobics mindset, will probably find Doug’s observations interesting.
Doug also announces the book he co-wrote with John Little, Body by Science, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. I’ve talked with John about it a few times over the past year, and it sounds like it’s going to be packed with information and a great resource for bodybuilders and anyone training to improve their physique.
Effect of Hand and Shoulder Position On Elbow Flexor Involvement During Curling and Pulling Exercises
This morning during a phone conversation with Greg Anderson the subject of the previous post on the effect of hand position on triceps involvement came up.. Greg mentioned, and I agree, hand position makes little difference to arm flexor involvement during curling and pulling movements as well.
Articles on arm training in bodybuilding magazines and web sites often make claims of different hand or shoulder positions or grip width having the effect of isolating or emphasizing one head of the biceps or a particular arm flexor (i.e. incline curls to target the long head of the biceps, hammer curls to target the brachioradialus, reverse grip curls to target the brachialis, etc.). While there is some truth to this - changes in hand or shoulder position affect the relative length and thus the ability of some of the elbow flexors to produce force - the effect on muscular development is greatly exaggerated. › Continue reading
Q&A: Neck and Head Pain During Barbell Squats
The previous workout when performing squats I was close to failure when i started to get a intense pain in my neck and the back of my head ( I had this again last night during squats). My training partner believes my head and neck position is too far back causing me to tense my upper back and neck very hard on the eccentric part of the squat causing pain where the neck tendons attach to the skull. Has any of your clients had this problem? What do you recommend?
Hyperextending the neck is a common fault during barbell squats and may be a large part of the reason you are feeling the pain in your neck. As you descend and the hip angle decreases, if you continue to look straight ahead your neck will extend significantly by the time you reach the bottom position. The head and neck should remain in a neutral position relative to the body throughout the exercise. The chin should be just slightly down. Imagine you are holding a tennis ball between your chin and sternum, and maintain that position.
The bar may also be positioned too high. During barbell squats, the bar should be positioned just over the spines of the scapulae, on the lower traps and rear delts, and not higher on the traps on the back of the neck. When the bar is placed high on the traps, it tends to place a lot of pressure on the spinous processes of the seventh cervical or first thoracic vertabrae, which can cause serious damage over time. While the higher bar position may place more of the load on the quadriceps, since a lower bar position will allow a greater load to be used overall, in the long run it should result in better overall thigh development.
In short, keep your head in a neutral position, the bar on the lower part of the traps/back of the rear deltoids just above the spines of the scapulae, and you should no longer feel any pain in your neck during squats.
Effect of Hand Position on Tricep Involvement During Extension and Pressing Exercises
I recently read an article on a bodybuilding web site about arm training that recommended performing various tricep exercises using both underhand and overhand grips. While different hand positions will have an effect on the involvement of the muscles in the forearms due to differences in the demand on grip and wrist stabilization, they will have no significant effect on triceps involvement.
Hand pronation and supination are accomplished by rotation of the radius at the elbow, crossing over the ulna during pronation and returning to a position parallel to the ulna during supination. The triceps, which extend the elbow by pulling on the olecranon process of the ulna, are not affected by this. › Continue reading