Hahn on AC's Analysis

In response to AC's blog about the "calorie is not a calorie" study most recently posted (my response is here), Fred Hahn at Slow Burn adds the following cogent analysis:

The researchers state in their discussion (the bolding is my doing):

Although the very low-carbohydrate diet produced the greatest improvements in most metabolic syndrome components examined herein, we identified 2 potentially deleterious effects of this diet. Twenty-four hour urinary cortisol excretion, a hormonal measure of stress, was highest with the very low-carbohydrate diet.

Highest yes, but high? Heck no.

What they don’t say, for whatever reason, is that none of the levels measured for CRP or cortisol reached abnormally high levels. Not even close. The levels in ALL groups were well within the norms. Heightened catabolism AC? Poppycock. In fact, all groups saw a significant improvement in their CRP levels, with all groups falling into the normal range, which neatly tucks them into the low risk category for CRP / cortisol measures.

It’s literally insane for the researchers to say “We identified 2 potentially deleterious effects of this diet…” especially considering the statement that I bolded above. As I see it, the researchers, as well as AC, want to make something big out of absolutely nothing. You can almost smell their disdain for the low-carb hypothesis.

http://slowburnfitness.com/a-calorie-isnt-a-calorie-but-colpo-remains-colpo/

"Chi" Walking?

Got a phone call from a friend last week asking me about minimalist running. This is what she said: 

“I want to run. I feel great when I run. But every time I try to start back up with running, after a few weeks, my calves are killing me. I take a break that ends up lasting a month or longer, then I try again with the same results. What am I doing wrong?”

The RX: ditch the crappy shoes.  Then walk.  How should you walk?

So when I decided to transition to a barefoot/minimalist lifestyle, I knew I had to take it slow… very slow. I spent the first six weeks just learning how to walk. What I’m showing you below is the program I followed.

Since my foot was in direct contact with the pavement, when I walked with a poor gait pattern, I felt it immediately at my foot. This allowed me to make immediate adjustments in my gait so that I walked without pain. Once you place a cushion beneath your foot, you are disconnected from this very important line of communication with your body.  It allows you to continue to walk with dysfunction instead of feeling pain immediately at your foot.  The pain allows you to make immediate adjustments. No immediate pain, no immediate adjustments.  Rather, you feel that pain weeks, months or even years later in your knee, hip, back, shoulder or neck.  By this point you are completely disconnected from the original source of the problem.  As you learn to walk again remember, every step is an opportunity to make immediate adjustments in your gait.  

The author continues with a lot of advice, which will likely work for many folks.

I like his description of walking:

▪                A quiet foot fall. Your foot should touch the ground like a feather. No slapping.

▪                Slight forward body lean.

▪                Your forefoot or mid foot should strike the ground first, heel comes down after that. Do make sure your heel touches the ground, otherwise your calves will get very angry at you.

▪                Short stride with your feet landing directly beneath your hips, not in front of your body.

▪                Comfortable arm swing with shoulders relaxed downward. Don’t hold your arms or shoulders rigid. Your right arm should move in tandem with your left leg and vice versa.

▪                Follow the corrective exercises in the following articles to develop mobility and stability of the feet, hips and shoulders.

http://tao-fit.com/barefoot-minimalist-walking-running


I know there are folks who would like to make the transition to pain free walking, and perhaps then running - if you try this approach, let me know how it works!

Hero WOD: "Ship"

Ship

Nine rounds for time of:
185 pound Squat clean, 7 reps
8 Burpee box jumps, 36" box

Canadian Forces Sergeant Prescott Shipway, 36, of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, Canada, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Manitoba, Canada, was killed on September 7, 2008 by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

Fair winds and following seas on your journey, warrior!

NOTE:  if you click the link above, the comments posted there explain how folks have scaled this WOD to make it "performable" for non-elite CrossFitters.

Eades: Leptin Basics

The venerable Dr. Mike Eades does a nice job explaining about leptin and hunger, and how carb restriction affects these things - more powerfully than drugs.

The drug rimonabant (Acomplia) that failed to pass muster with the FDA panel last week works by blocking some of the hunger receptors in the brain. In other words, those who take the drug – assuming it works as touted – will be less hungry. Less hunger means less food consumption. Less food consumption typically results in weight loss. So, if you take rimonabant, assuming you don’t become suicidal and do yourself in (the big worry of the FDA panel since the major side effects are varying degrees of psychoses), you should lose some weight. But there is a better, cheaper way.

The low-carbohydrate diet working through the hormone leptin reduces hunger much more than rimonabant on its best day. And without the risk of serious side effects. And without the $250 per month for the drug.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/metabolism/leptin-low-carb-and-hunger/

The summary:

1.  Fat makes leptin, so as fat decreases leptin decreases, signaling the brain to make the human hungry.  This way, the human cannot run out of fuel - unless the hunger is not sufficiently motivating (it usually is - funny what millions of years of evolution will do for you) to get the human out to hunt/gather; or, there's inadequate amounts of stuff to be hunted/gathered.

2.  Obese folks have mucho leptin - much more than normal, but their body does not translate the leptin into decreased hunger.  

3. The reason the obese are not leptin sensitive starts with triglycerides - when trigs are high, leptin does not cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), so for practical purposes, the leptin does not exist.  

4.  Carbohydrate restriction helps restore this process by reducing triglyceride levels, which allows leptin to cross the BBB, and restore leptin sensitivity.

Fructose also seems to have a negative effect on leptin sensitivity.

Once again, it's the neolithic levels of carb intake, exacerbated by high neolithic-fructose intake, which drives the system off its energy management program, resulting in humans feeling hungry when they are not in need of more food.

Minor edits 27 July 2012

Double Under Demo, Intro

Mike McGoldrick, super human and super human being (this is a Mike you would actually like to be like), shows how to DU:
http://fitr.tv/blogs/fitr-tv/6332336-how-to-do-picture-perfect-easy-double-unders
Short and sweet instruction!

Double unders are a fabulous test of coordination, and done well they demand and develop body integration (if your hips and back flex every bounce, you will lose), precise body positioning, the ability to rebound off the ground with great efficiency (the jumping part), and metabolic capacity.  DU also develop hand speed and coordination.  Put this little nasty in a workout, and you will also be able to practice and refine the ability to deliver skillful movement when near the limit of your metabolic working limits.  Yes - skillful movement when gassed and gasping for breath - that will come in handy some day.

One thing I'd add - imagine yourself as the double under-er, in the middle of a circle.  The circle touches the ground under your feet.  If the circle rolled forward, your feet would no longer be contained by the circle.  This is what many people do without realizing it - they move their hands forward, essentially moving the circle in front of themselves.  Then the rope starts hitting their feet.  Unaware of why, they try jumping higher.  It may work for a bit, then the extra wasted work catches up to them.

What to do?  Make sure the hands stay to your side, so that if you drew a line from hand to hand it would go through your body.  IOW - keep the circle around you, not in front of you.

Few things in life are as cool as the sound made by strings of DUs, you want this!

The Physics of Running

This is a detailed column, describing how to think about how gravity powers running.  As Dr. Romanov points out, running is falling.  If that's a puzzle you've been trying to solve, and if you are thinking in terms of streams/waterfalls, and sailboats, you're on the right track.
http://echifitness.com/blog/2012/05/10/the-physics-of-chirunning-lean-analysis/

As written, this methodology has a lot of crossover with the POSE Method - which makes sense.  The human body is made to run in a world of gravity, many have been able to see this obvious thing over the years.

?Fat Adapted?

As I’ve mentioned before, fat-adaptation is the normal, preferred metabolic state of the human animal. It’s nothing special; it’s just how we’re meant to be. That’s actually why we have all this fat on our bodies – turns out it’s a pretty reliable source of energy! To understand what it means to be normal, it’s useful examine what it means to be abnormal. And by that I mean, to understand what being a sugar-dependent person feels like.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-fat-adapted/#ixzz1zl8SR8M2


Mark does a nice job in this post explaining the place we all want to be - fat adapted.  It's the normal human metabolic state and it leads to things like normal blood sugar, lack of hunger, a lean body, and lots of flexibility about when we eat.  
How does one go about getting themselves fat adapted?  First, restrict your carb intake.  The brain needs about 150g of carbohydrate daily, so when you eat fewer carbs than that, you demand that your body use fat as fuel.  You can also help this process along by avoiding high carb intake after your high quality paleo supper - if you like sweets, eat them early in the evening.  As you fast while sleeping, you invite the body to use fat.  If you delay breakfast, or eat a very low carb breakfast, you demand that your body continue to use fat.  
As a side effect, you feel much better.  All the more so if you have glucose regulation issues.
I recommend Mark's post above for all the details about why you should work to achieve the glorified status of "FAT BURNING MACHINE".
Minor edits July 27, 2012