Heartscan - Real Men

William Davis provides a concise run down of why men will benefit from significant carb restriction, and perhaps elimination of certain foods (modern wheat variants for example) altogether.
Heartscan Real Men

Real men don’t eat carbs. At least they don’t eat them without eventually paying the price.
How do carbohydrates, especially those contained in “healthy whole grains,” impair maleness? Several ways:
–Consume carbohydrates, especially the exceptional glucose-increasing amylopectin A from wheat, and visceral fat grows. Visceral fat increases estrogen levels; estrogen, in effect, opposes the masculinizing effects of testosterone. Overweight males typically have low testosterone and high estrogen, a cause for depression, emotionality, weight gain, and low libido.
The rest of the story: 
- You get older faster via glycation
- You increase prolactin production, resulting in MOOBs (male breast reduction surgery is making plastic surgeons rich)
- These foods lead to all sorts of inflammatory remants which damage the endothelium - the linings of the blood vessel walls - which is the root of erectile disfunction, and/or the source of many millions made through sales of the blue pills.

Ever see folks that you know should not be drinking talking themselves through torturous justifications to continue their drinking behavior?  I see that same phenomenon for folks who justify continued wheat consumption - and given the opioid content of modern wheat variants, I think for much the same reason. 

Carbs are not the devil per se, but consumption of carbs at levels that are now generally viewed as "normal" IS NOT NORMAL!  That stuff will kill you.

Spotters? I Don't Need No Stinkin' Spotters

Don't Try This At Home

Another good example of how useless spotters can be if it goes really wrong.  If you are putting heavy weights on the bar, you need a cage.

Then again, here's a case where they helped:  Spotters

No Food Purism!

No Food Purism!

Food purists beware, this could happen to you!  (see youtube link above)

Got A Football Player Kid?

The points below are my favorites of the 17 from the link below.  This is all stuff I wish I'd known, although I'm certain it would not have helped with my strategy from way back then - which was, confusing the other team with my lack of strength and speed.  This won't work as well as CrossFit Football, but it will be far, far ahead of most football trainees.

One beef - don't let kids bench press, except with dumb bells.  Once per month on average, someone kills themselves bench pressing.  Do a quick YouTube search and you can see how fast it happens and how pointless spotters can be.  A barbell across the throat is not reversible, and a heavy bar dropped onto the rib cage or face is only slightly better.  Substitute floor presses, overhead presses, dips, weighted dips, ring dips, and pushups.  If your kids must bench, make SURE he/she is taught to keep the thumbs wrapped around the bar from direction opposite the fingers - God gave you opposable thumbs to keep you from dropping barbells on yourself.

4. You need to improve athleticism, not just your bench.
The bench is great. So is the squat, the deadlift, and the clean, But remember, we are after not only big lifts but big hits, big runs, and big plays. We need to get stronger. Always. You also need to make sure your strength increases are coupled with increases in your “athleticism” for lack of a better term. If you focus only on the bench, you aren’t going to improve a whole lot on the football field. You need to work those lifts hard and get stronger while also using movements that will make you a better athlete.
Things like:

• Medicine ball chops, side-to-sides, over/unders
• Prowler, sled, and blocking sled work
• Position-specific, football-oriented agility work
• Stretching, both passive and dynamic
• Football skill and footwork
• Jump ropes
• Beginner’s plyometrics

These are the types of things you will do to improve as a football player while getting your strength and weight up. It may seem like a lot of work, but if you’re smart about it, it isn’t that complicated.
Start every session off with some football agility work, dynamic stretching, and jump rope. End your session with abdominal work, medicine balls, and some more jump rope.
http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/sports-training/seventeen-football-training-tips-for-beginners/

6. Go fast and then heavy.
This one is so simple. Most of you are fascinated with plyometrics. You want to know when, how many, and what to do. Well the answer is simple—jump before you lift heavy. This doesn’t have to be complicated. If you aren’t ready for box jumps or don’t have plyo boxes, do standing long jumps, vertical jumps, side straddle hops, or one leg long jump. Do 5–10 jumps before you move into your heavy bench, squat, or deadlift.
Also, for those who want to dabble in the Olympic lifts, doing power cleans, clean pulls, snatch pulls, or hang snatches at the start of your heavy, lower body day is a great idea. For example, if you have some heavy deadlifts planned for today, start off by doing power cleans. This serves as a great way to warm up for the heavier pulls and it “wakes up” your central nervous system (basically it tells your brain it’s time to get to work).
7. Pump up the volume.
If you need to get bigger, you need to add some reps and eat right. The easiest way to do this is to combine heavy, low rep sets on your big main exercises like squats, box front squats, or incline followed by higher rep sets on your assistance exercises:

• Rows
• Chin-ups
• One arm row
• Dumbbell bench
• Curls
• Dumbbell overhead press
• Straight leg deadlifts

On these movements, shoot for at least 24 total reps. You can do 2 X 12, 3 X 8, 6 X 4, 4 X 6, or 5 X 5 (yes it’s 25). The point is to try to hit 24 as your guide point. You can do more, but if you stick to the rule of 24, you’ll be golden.
8. If you need to get bigger, time your sets.
This one is for you skinny guys who eat like you just got out of jail but just can’t seem to gain muscle. First, keep eating and eat more. Add liquid calories as much as possible. A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil added to your protein shake is an extra 135 calories. Do that twice a day and add extra oils to your regular food and you’re well on your way.
Next, get to work on your assistance exercises, but instead of simply shooting for 24, set the timer and go all out. You can do this two ways. You can either time the actual set (i.e. set the timer for two minutes and do dumbbell inclines the entire time) or you can do two exercises like rows and dumbbell bench and set the timer for 15 minutes. Then try to get the maximum number of reps on both exercises in 15 minutes. In the next session, beat your total. Both methods will put muscle on even the hardest of hard gainers.
On the timed sets, pick a time—usually 90 seconds to two minutes—and do the exercise, resting the dumbbells only as needed. So if you’re doing dumbbell presses, you might do eight reps, rest for a few seconds (with the dumbbells on your shoulders), do another six reps, rest, do six reps, rest, and then 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, and 1 until the timer goes off. Again, beat this number next week.

CrossFit Athlete Profile

Nate S Mac

Nate S

I post this mostly for those of you that are into CrossFit, or those that are curious about CF.  This is a pretty good example of the ground you cover, training wise.  First, you see the guy gutting out a WOD, or workout of the day - this training develops capacity in the glycolitic energy pathway, and the ability to execute complex, powerful movements when fatigued to near muscle and/or metabolic failure.  Next, Nate's working on a one rep front squat - taxing the phospho-creatine pathway, and maximal force generation.  In all of the movements you see, there is a premium on the athlete's ability to achieve and sustain a functional posture under load - so all of these movement are demanding and developing core strength.  By "functional posture" I mean a posture from which power can be generated, which is the closest approximation a human can achieve to the way the human body was "designed" to operate.  Functional movements by definition are expressions of the human design, how the "creator" intended that it be used in life, sport, and combat.  There's no footage here of Nate running or rowing long, but that is also likely a portion of his training, and certainly a capacity he sustains.

I have never met Nate, but he reminds me of many CrossFitters in his mix of near super human athleticism combined with understated style and apparent humility.  I don't know if that humility factor will survive as CrossFit becomes mainstream, but I have loved being in that community up to now.

The interview also reminded me of what I learned about the Spec Ops world when I trained at Fort Bragg. Those folks are selected because they have amazing athleticism and toughness, but that just gets them to the table.  The ones that are not intelligent, adaptable and facile in a team environment are eliminated.  They work with amazing autonomy, and thus must also have a strong sense of purpose and mission.  It is a remarkable skill set that just starts with being 'badass.'

Have a Baseball Kid? Must read

I’m convinced that the next big thing in Major League Baseball’s “scouting revolution” is meticulously analyzing what players did when they were younger.  If they are going to draft kids, they want to know that they haven’t been overworked for years prior to entering professional baseball.  You’re already seeing this taking place in collegiate baseball based more on an assumption: pitchers from the North are getting more and more opportunities to play down South because coaches recruit them (beyond just talent) under the assumption that they’ve accumulated less wear and tear on their arms.
http://ericcressey.com/your-arm-hurts-thank-your-coaches

Read the rest if you have a baseball kid.

Excellent Review of O6/O3 Issues

http://thehealthyskeptic.org/how-too-much-omega-6-and-not-enough-omega-3-is-making-us-sick

BLUF:  Imbalance results in dis-functional inflammation and cell wall permeability issues.