Archive for September, 2008
Book Update - PWDIR
After reviewing what I’ve written so far, and taking some time to seriously contemplate my writing process and some obstacles I’ve been dealing with in finishing the book, I had an idea. This will mean re-writing much of what has already been done, but probably finishing faster and having something people will enjoy much more as a result.
Those of you who remember my training journal entries from the late 90’s on Cyberpump.com might recognize the acronym in the post title - a hint at the new direction the content and tone of the book will be taking.
I’ve started putting together a glossary of commonly used acronyms for the book, since I’ve found I’m using quite a few of them. There will also be an appendix of charts, tables, and various formulas and worksheets from the book that people should find helpful.
Thanks to everybody for the e-mails and interest in the book. I hope you find it informative and enjoy reading it when it’s out.
More Metabolic Conditioning Workouts
Those interested in workouts geared towards metabolic conditioning may like to give the workout I did earlier tonight a try. It is a modified version of the CrossFit workout called “Cindy”. The CrossFit version of Cindy consists of as many rounds as possible of the following exercises in 20 minutes:
- 5 pull ups (usually performed with a kipping motion)
- 10 push ups
- 15 bodyweight squats
The modified version I did tonight used variations of the same exercises, with added weight and shorter time (15 minutes):
- 5 strict weighted chin ups (190 pounds bodyweight plus a 25 pound dumbbell held between the ankles)
- 10 push ups with narrow hand spacing (inside shoulder width)
- 15 squats with 25 pound dumbbells
All reps were performed in slow, controlled manner, with a brief pause at the top of the chin ups. During the fifth and sixth rounds I had to rest a few seconds after the third and fourth reps on the chin ups to complete five. I was able to complete six rounds in 14:34, after which I started feeling a little nauseous and could have sworn the temperature in the house went up 20 to 30 degrees, so I crawled into the bath tub and filled it with cold water. It seemed to do the trick, because I felt completely recovered within a few minutes. › Continue reading
CrossFit Lawsuit Update
I was recently notified the workout which allegedly caused the injuries and rhabdomyolysis resulting in Makimbo Mimms’ lawsuit against a CrossFit instructor consisted of the following:
Three rounds of each of the following, performed for 15, then 10, then 5 reps:
- 10 pound dumbbell thrusters (a thruster is a combined squatting and pressing movement)
- Burpees
- Bodyweight Squats
Although injury to the spine and quadriceps is possible if the movements are performed very explosively, I find it unlikely in an otherwise healthy individual with such light weight and body weight exercises. I also have a very hard time believing a healthy, even only moderately fit person would suffer rhabdomyolysis from such an easy workout.
Either Mimms actually did a far more challenging workout than the one listed above, is terribly weak and deconditioned, or was injured doing something else and is trying to make the CrossFit instructor a scapegoat.
I have a woman in her mid 20’s that does thrusters with 15 lbs dumbbells using a strict, controlled speed of movement for higher reps than that, who has never been injured or developed rhabdomyolysis in the process. You’d think an all-Navy wrestler could handle it.
Motivation
I decided to start posting and writing more motivational material for the site, and create an entire category for it. All the technical, how-to stuff doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t do it consistently and with a high level of effort, and doing so requires motivation. While everybody has a unique set of values and is motivated by different things, I hope people will find something here that inspires them to improve in some way.
The training studio I work for is owned by professional wrestler, Marc Mero. A big part of the reason for the success of the studio is Marc’s emphasis on keeping clients motivated and his effort to inspire them to acheive their goals. While every personal trainer and fitness studio out there talks about motivation, Marc walks the walk. Although he isn’t currently training people due to other commitments, he is still here several hours every day talking with clients about their progress and motivating them to continue to improve. Marc also does motivational speaking at schools, encouraging kids to make better choices in life.
Marc is good friends with Diamond Dallas Page, another professional wrestler who developed a system of yoga and calisthenic based bodyweight training he calls “yoga for regular guys“. A while back, DDP sent us a link to a video showing the progress of one of his clients, Arthur Boorman, a disabled Gulf War veteran who dramatically transformed himself through exercise and healthy eating. Arthur is a great example of what can be accomplished through consistent, hard work, and I hope you find the following video inspiring.
Bodybuilding Book Progress Update
I am making some major changes to the structure of the book, which means it will take somewhat longer to complete, but I believe it will flow better and makes more organizational sense.
A lot of people have been e-mailing asking about it, and I greatly appreciate the interest in the book, but I would rather wait until I am happy with it than rush out something I will regret later. I believe the changes will be worth the wait.
I am trying to edit it to maximize the “signal to noise” ratio, with efficiency and readability and ease of use the top priorities. Unless an anecdote or detailed scientific explanation significantly contributes to understanding of a concept, it’s being cut or moved to a sidebar or the appendix. By moving some of these to sidebars or the appendix the flow will be improved while somewhat off-topic or more technical information will be retained for those interested.
I hope to finish it soon, but it is more important to me to do it right than to do it right now.
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.