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

“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.

“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.

While this may seem irrelevant today with cars and public transportation, a convenience store on every corner, escalators and elevators everywhere, and the lack of large predators in urban and residential areas, all it takes is one emergency where one’s survival or the survival of another depends on their strength or stamina to learn a very hard lesson about how important fitness is.

Could you move a very heavy object off of yourself or someone else trapped under it?

Could you hang on to and pull yourself or someone else up over something fallen off of?

Could you pick up and carry an injured or unconscious person to safety?

Could you run fast enough, climb high enough, and move with enough quickness and agility to evade  some other potential danger?

Can you run or climb at all?

With the exception of athletes and people in physically demanding professions most people don’t give much thought to the need for a high level of strength and stamina. They assume they don’t need it because their day to day lives don’t require it. If they think about exercise at all they are probably more concerned with reducing their waistline or staving off having to go up another pant or dress size than improving their physical capabilities. Few people give much consideration to being physically prepared to successfully cope with anything that isn’t part of their daily routine.

When asked why he always carried a gun, Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones once said,

“A pistol is like a tourniquet. You don’t need one very often, but when you do need one you need it very badly, and very quickly.”

The same can be said of a high level of physical fitness. If your lifestyle and profession does not involve some degree of regular, hard physical challenge you may not need a high level of fitness very often, but if an emergency situation should ever arise where your life or someone else’s depends on it, it’s going to be too late to start thinking about working out. In this respect, developing a high level of physical capability is much like carrying a handgun - it is much better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

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.

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.

Stick to the Basics

Weighted Crunch

While the superficial abdominal muscles are capable of producing a wide variety of movements, all of these movements are just different combinations of flexion (rectus abdominis) and lateral flexion or rotation (internal and external obliques). It is not necessary to perform dozens of variations of these, but rather just a few, basic movements that address each of these functions. People who recommend performing long abdominal workouts involving dozens of exercises either don’t know what they’re talking about or are making things more complex for the sake of sounding more knowledgeable than they are. Training does not have to be complex to be effective, just hard.

If you perform direct exercise for your abs, one hard set of a basic trunk flexion exercise and a basic lateral flexion or rotation exercise for the obliques is all you need. If you want to perform a few different exercises of each type, divide them between different workouts. Use a heavy enough weight to keep the reps within a reasonable range.

Sets, Reps and Frequency

While the abdominal muscles tend to have a higher percentage of slow twitch fibers, they do not require extremely high repetitions or a very high volume of work. In terms of set and rep number and workout frequency they should be trained like any other muscle group. Research shows little difference in results between single and multiple sets for the majority of people, and suggests there is also very little difference in muscular strength or size gains with different rep ranges in the 30 to 100 second range, as long as the level of effort is high (although what is best most likely varies a bit between individuals). Assuming a moderately controlled speed of movement - about a 2 to 3 second lifting and a 2 to 3 second lowering cadence with a brief pause at the start and finish - and taking into account the higher percentage of slow twitch fibers, this means keeping the reps under 20 (Westcott, W. and R. LaRosa Loud. Research on repetition ranges. Master Trainer 10 (4): 16-18, 2000. and Westcott, W. A new look at repetition ranges. Fitness Management Y 18 (7): 36-37, 2002.).

Ab Training Classes

Based on the above, it should be obvious group exercise classes focused entirely on abdominal training are an unnecessary waste of time. Effective abdominal training requires only one or two exercises and a few minutes at most, not 30 to 45 minutes.

Training Upper Versus Lower Abs

You do not need to perform different exercises to work your “upper” versus your “lower” abs. While a few EMG studies suggest different exercises may involve the lower or upper portions somewhat more, it is unlikely to be enough to make any practical difference, especially if weighted exercises are performed using enough resistance to limit the set to the rep range mentioned above.

A few individuals with extraordinary muscle control, like the legendary Ed Jubinville, may be capable of selectively contracting different abdominal segments, but from a practical standpoint it is not necessary to do so as part of an exercise program. If you flex your spine against enough resistance you will effectively train the entire rectus abdominis from top to bottom.

Stability Balls

EMG studies show crunches performed on a stability ball are less effective than when performed on the floor or a stable surface.

“A Comparative EMG Analysis: Abdominal Crunches Performed on a Stable Versus Unstable Surface (Exercise Physiology & Fitness)

Chris K. Rhea1, J. Gualberto Cremades2 and Erica Opala2, (1)Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, (2)Barry University, Miami Shores, FL

Research has indicated that core training may be important because opposite rotational movements of the upper and lower torso are required in nearly all physical activities (Allers, 1981). More importantly, strong abdominal muscles assist in stabilizing the spine and can enhance in activities of daily life (Vera-Garcia, 2000). Abdominal muscles may be strengthened while exercising on a stable (e.g. floor) or unstable (e.g. stability ball) surface. There are equivocal results in the literature as to what surface elicits greater muscle activation (Hildenbrand & Noble, 2004; Piering, 1993; Sarti, 1996; Willet, 2001). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare EMG activity of the rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles during a crunch on a stable and an unstable surface. A two by two (site by surface) repeated measures ANOVA was used for this study. Data on the subjects (N = 12) indicated no significant differences between site during each condition (F(1,11) = 0.07, p > .05). Significant data were found between surface types (F(1,11) = 8.01, p < .05). The data suggest that the EMG values of the rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles were similar to each other on each surface. However, the floor condition elicited higher EMG values when compared to the stability ball condition. This suggests that the stability ball does not induce greater muscle activity when performing a crunch.”

Stability balls training is a gimmick, and in my opinion one of the biggest shams perpetuated by the fitness industry and specifically the “functional training” crowd.

Other Gimmicks

Ab rollers, ab rockers, ab chairs, ab lounges, ab blasters, ab sculptors, ab shapers, ab toners, ab this, ab that - there is no end to the number of stupid abdominal training devices, most of which are just copies of each other with minor variations. They are a complete waste of money. All you need to effectively train your abs and obliques is adequate floor space and a heavy enough weight plate or dumbbell.

Spot Reduction is a Myth

I shouldn’t even have to mention this, but I will any way since based on the number of ab gadget informercials and ab books and courses claiming to provide spot reduction there are still people out there who believe this is possible. You can not reduce body fat in a specific area by working the underlying muscles. The body doesn’t work that way.

Training Abs Versus Hip Flexors

L-sit

Many exercises recommended for abdominal training, such as various forms of leg raises and sit ups and gymnastics skills like L and V sits, are actually primarily hip flexor exercises. While the abdominal muscles may be involved significantly as stabilizers, they are better worked through exercises involving trunk flexion. While certain exercises may involve some overlap between the two, trunk flexion exercises should involve relatively little hip flexion, and vice-versa.

There are benefits to performing direct hip flexion exercises, including providing balance to hip extensor work, but it is important to distinguish between hip flexor and trunk flexor training.

No Need for “Cardio”

I’ve done no “cardio” since starting high intensity training well over a year before the top photo was taken. If you are strict enough with your diet cardio is not only unnecessary for fat loss, but can actually be counterproductive to maintaining muscle while trying to reduce body fat to very low levels. In fact, the lower your body fat, the lower your daily calorie deficit needs to be to avoid losing lean body mass. There is a limit to the rate at which your body is able to get energy from its fat stores. If your daily calorie deficit exceeds the amount of energy your body can get from your fat stores (about 30 calories per pound of fat) the difference will come from the breakdown of muscle and other tissues (Alpert SS. A limit on the energy transfer rate from the human fat store in hypophagia. J Theor Biol. 2005 Mar 7;233(1):1-13.). If you’re already doing high intensity strength training workouts, the effect on fat loss will be similar to high intensity interval training of comparable duration, so additional “cardio” would be redundant any way.

Eating for Ripped Abs

Without going into detail, the approach I recommend is to eat primarily lean meat, poultry and fish, along with plenty of fresh fibrous vegetables and fruits, and smaller amounts of nuts and healthy oils. Minimize or eliminate intake of grain products (breads, pastas, rice), starchier vegetables and sugary food and drinks. See the nutrition section of this web site for more specific information.

As always your feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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.

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.

Regardless of hand or shoulder position, if the resistance is heavy enough, all of the motor units in all of the involved muscles will be recruited and stimulated. Any difference in involvement is most likely not enough to make a significant difference in overall development over the long term. Because of this, hand and shoulder position during curls or pulling exercises should be based on what will allow the heaviest weight to be used with proper form to place the greatest demand on all of the muscles involved, as well as what is safest and most comfortable for the trainee’s wrists and elbows.

A supinated or neutral hand position is best during curling exercises for the same reason pronated or neutral is best during tricep exercises - they allow heavier weights to be used more safely. Some people claim a more supinated position will provide better stimulation for the biceps - which supinate the forearm in addition to flexing the elbow - as a basis for recommending using a straight bar for curls, or a wider hand spacing for chin ups.

You can not curl as much with a pronated grip as you can with a supinated or neutral grip partly because of the change in biceps length, but also in large part because the forearms are weaker in extension than they are in flexion or abduction/ulnar deviation and your grip may be a limiting factor.

Most people can lift more weight in wrist flexion than arm flexion, but less in wrist extension. When you perform a reverse curl, forearm extensor and grip strength becomes a limiting factor. Your arm flexors are not being worked nearly as hard as your wrist extensors and grip. Great forearm/wrist extensor work, but not ideal for upper arm development.

Hand position and especially grip spacing would have a greater effect during pulling movements than curling movements, mainly because these affect the range of motion and the relative involvement of the different back muscles acting on the shoulder. If the grip is too narrow or too wide the range of motion around both the elbows and shoulders is reduced, and different hand spacing, plane of movement, etc. affects the leverages of the involved muscles more significantly. For pulling movements, like curling, the best hand position and spacing is whatever allows the heaviest weight to be used in a manner that effectively loads the targeted upper back muscles, as well as what is safest and most comfortable for the trainee’s wrists, elbows and shoulders.

So what does this mean in terms of practical application? Don’t get caught up in all the pseudo-scientific bodybuilding magazine nonsense about using various hand and shoulder positions or grip widths to isolate a particular arm flexor or bicep head. Just focus on becoming as strong as possible on a few basic, heavy curling and pulling movements. My recommendations for curling and pulling movements:

• Standing straight or EZ-bar curls or a suitable arm curl machine with a regular (supinated), approximately shoulder-width grip.
• Dumbbell curls with a regular or neutral (AKA “hammer”) grip.
• Chin-ups or underhand (supinated) grip pull-downs with a shoulder-width grip.
• Parallel-grip pull-ups with a grip just outside of shoulder width.
• Barbell rows with a shoulder-width grip. These are typically performed with an overhand (pronated) grip, but use whatever hand position your wrists and elbows are most comfortable with.
• One-arm dumbbell rows with a neutral grip.
• Cable or machine rows with a shoulder-width grip.

Keep in mind that parallel grip and neutral grip are not necessarily the same. Hand position is considered relative to forearm position, and whether a parallel grip (palms facing each other) is a neutral or a supinated grip depends on arm position. During a curling or pulling movement where the arms are moving in the sagital plane a parallel grip would be neutral and an underhand grip would be supinated, but during a pulling movement like parallel-grip pull-ups where the arms are moving in a coronal plane a parallel grip would be supinated and an overhand grip would be neutral.

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.

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.

You can’t isolate or emphasize the medial, lateral or long heads of your triceps by varying hand position.

What hand position does affect is the strength of the grip, and as a result the safety of the exercise when performed with a relatively heavy weight. When a supine grip is used during tricep extension, the strength of wrist extensors and grip become a limiting factor. You can handle far more weight during elbow extension than wrist extension, and the further the wrists flex as the extensors fatigue, the more difficult gripping becomes due to muscular insufficiency of the wrist/finger flexors and poorer leverage of the thumbs. During either bench or standing tricep extensions with a barbell a failed grip can have disastrous results. None of these problems occur if a pronated grip is used, or if a neutral grip is used with handles designed for it, in which case the handle or part of it is pressed against by the palm or edge of the hand.

Hand position is even more important during pressing exercises which are typically performed with much heavier weight. While the forearms remain parallel to the pull of gravity the bar or handles will be supported by the heels of the palms, but if the elbows are allowed to flex too far, the same problems occur as during extension.

During almost all upper body pressing and tricep exercises, either a pronated or neutral grip should be used. Exceptions to this include some pressing movements such as planche push ups from the floor where the angle between the forearm and the floor precludes supination. I should also mention the degree of shoulder flexion will have a slight effect on the contribution of the long head of the triceps to elbow extension, since unlike the medial and lateral heads which originate on the humerus and only act on the elbow joint, it originates on the infraglenoid tubercle of the scapula. Extreme shoulder extension places the long head of the triceps in a position of muscular insufficiency, reducing it’s ability to contribute to elbow extension.