CST Free Weight Exercises By Scott Sonnon

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I was actually going to take today off - not just in honor of my Irish heritage, but because I was hoping to work from home and catch up on work.  As it turns out, I went in to the facility for our staff in-service (given by Brian St. Pierre, who [...]
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Quite a few newspapers picked up on this study - e.g the Independent

As usual NHS Choices calms things down and tries to maintain the paradigm!

While this type of research may suggest theoretical benefits to short bursts of intensive exercise, it does not change the fact that regular, moderate-intensity exercise is good for our health.

Anyway, this one adds to the evidence of the efficacy of intervals

Here is what the researchers say:

“We have shown that interval training does not have to be ‘all out’ in order to be effective,” says Professor Martin Gibala. “Doing 10 one-minute sprints on a standard stationary bike with about one minute of rest in between, three times a week, works as well in improving muscle as many hours of conventional long-term biking less strenuously.”

A practical model of low-volume high-intensity interval training induces mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle: potential mechanisms

High-intensity interval training (HIT) induces skeletal muscle metabolic and performance adaptations that resemble traditional endurance training despite a low total exercise volume. Most HIT studies have employed ‘all out’, variable-load exercise interventions (e.g. repeated Wingate tests) that may not be safe, practical and/or well tolerated by certain individuals. Our purpose was to determine the performance, metabolic and molecular adaptations to a more practical model of low-volume HIT. Seven men (21 ± 0.4 years, ml kg−1 min−1) performed six training sessions over 2 weeks. Each session consisted of 8–12 × 60 s intervals at ∼100% of peak power output elicited during a ramp peak test (355 ± 10 W) separated by 75 s of recovery. Training increased exercise capacity, as assessed by significant improvements on both 50 kJ and 750 kJ cycling time trials (P < 0.05 for both). Skeletal muscle (vastus lateralis) biopsy samples obtained before and after training revealed increased maximal activity of citrate synthase (CS) and cytochrome c oxidase (COX) as well as total protein content of CS, COX subunits II and IV, and the mitochondrial transcription factor A (Tfam) (P < 0.05 for all). Nuclear abundance of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ co-activator 1α (PGC-1α) was ∼25% higher after training (P < 0.05), but total PGC-1α protein content remained unchanged. Total SIRT1 content, a proposed activator of PGC-1α and mitochondrial biogenesis, was increased by ∼56% following training (P < 0.05). Training also increased resting muscle glycogen and total GLUT4 protein content (both P < 0.05). This study demonstrates that a practical model of low volume HIT is a potent stimulus for increasing skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity and improving exercise performance. The results also suggest that increases in SIRT1, nuclear PGC-1α, and Tfam may be involved in coordinating mitochondrial adaptations in response to HIT in human skeletal muscle.

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As a followup of sorts, to my article titled: Doctor Reveals What You Should Eat Every Day For Fat Loss And Health, I’d like to share with you how you can improve every marker of your health … in just ten days … by simply changing what you’re eating.
Can it really be that easy?
Yup!
What’s [...]

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Disclaimer: This blog/article is not about being humble or putting your time in getting coaching experience, though those are good and necessary things. It’s specifically about something else that I feel is one of many variables in the equation of success. And that very specific thing is Serving/Benefiting Others.
It goes without saying that we don’t [...]
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I’d given up trying to master a handstand but I might give it another go. Nice tutorial. Hat tip to the Barbarians

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Stephan is one of the top researchers and writers in this little corner of the internet…..

An interview with him has just been published which provides a great summary of his ideas:

Researchers followed volunteers for twenty years, and found that the amount of butter they ate had no relation to their risk of having a heart attack. On the other hand, people who ate the most margarine had nearly twice the risk of having a heart attack as people who ate none. Saturated fat is a red herring that has been overemphasized largely for historical reasons. One fat that is clearly important is omega-3. It’s found mostly in seafood, flax, green vegetables, and fats from pasture-raised animals. It’s critical to have a regular source of omega-3 in the diet.

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Recently again, but it’s been an ongoing question: why the large dragon tattooed across my canvas? If you’re interested, I’d be honored to share why this mystical reptile flies spirals across my shoulders. An early childhood fascination turned University concentration on mythology turned me repeatedly toward the metaphor of the dragon.
The dragon is also a [...]
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Q: I run into a TON of Fathers who want their son to gain velocity.  What are your keys to gaining velocity?
A: To be blunt, Step 1 is getting away from your crazy overbearing father and realizing that if you’re going to throw the ball hard, it’s because YOU want to do it, and are [...]
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I spotted this on the BBC the other day.

Actually, it is not just low carb diets. The researchers looked at 3 different diets:

Researchers studied 140 people (88 percent men, average age 51, Body Mass Index 30.4) who were randomly assigned to a low-carbohydrate, low fat or Mediterranean diet as part of the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial-carotid (DIRECT) study.

What doesn’t really hit the headlines is that while each of the diets was effective in reversing the atherosclerosis process, the low carb diet was the most effective in terms of its favorable effects on lipids in the blood.

Even the BBC note:

“Some people suggest that low-carbohydrate diets are more likely to clog arteries, but we did not see that.”

Sounds like something for Dr Davies

Here is the study abstract:

Dietary Intervention to Reverse Carotid Atherosclerosis.

BACKGROUND: -It is currently unknown whether dietary weight loss interventions can induce regression of carotid atherosclerosis. Methods and Results-In a 2-year Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial-Carotid (DIRECT-Carotid) study, participants were randomized to low-fat, Mediterranean, or low-carbohydrate diets and were followed for changes in carotid artery intima-media thickness, measured with standard B-mode ultrasound, and carotid vessel wall volume (VWV), measured with carotid 3D ultrasound. Of 140 complete images of participants (aged 51 years; body mass index, 30 kg/m(2); 88% men), higher baseline carotid VWV was associated with increased intima-media thickness, age, male sex, baseline weight, blood pressure, and insulin levels (P<0.05 for all). After 2 years of dietary intervention, we observed a significant 5% regression in mean carotid VWV (-58.1 mm(3;) 95% confidence interval, -81.0 to -35.1 mm(3); P<0.001), with no differences in the low-fat, Mediterranean, or low-carbohydrate groups (-60.69 mm(3), -37.69 mm(3), -84.33 mm(3), respectively; P=0.28). Mean change in intima-media thickness was -1.1% (P=0.18). A reduction in the ratio of apolipoprotein B100 to apolipoprotein A1 was observed in the low-carbohydrate compared with the low-fat group (P=0.001). Participants who exhibited carotid VWV regression (mean decrease, -128.0 mm(3); 95% confidence interval, -148.1 to -107.9 mm(3)) compared with participants who exhibited progression (mean increase, +89.6 mm(3); 95% confidence interval, +66.6 to +112.6 mm(3)) had achieved greater weight loss (-5.3 versus -3.2 kg; P=0.03), greater decreases in systolic blood pressure (-6.8 versus -1.1 mm Hg; P=0.009) and total homocysteine (-0.06 versus +1.44 mumol/L; P=0.04), and a higher increase of apolipoprotein A1 (+0.05 versus -0.00 g/L; P=0.06). In multivariate regression models, only the decrease in systolic blood pressure remained a significant independent modifiable predictor of subsequent greater regression in both carotid VWV (beta=0.23; P=0.01) and intima-media thickness (beta=0.28; P=0.008) levels. Conclusions-Two-year weight loss diets can induce a significant regression of measurable carotid VWV. The effect is similar in low-fat, Mediterranean, or low-carbohydrate strategies and appears to be mediated mainly by the weight loss-induced decline in blood pressure.

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At Cressey Performance, we have a few interns in the spring (1/5 - 5/10), summer (6/1 - 8/30), and fall (9/1-12/23).  Over the past three years, this internship program has “kicked out” some coaches who are doing great things in the industry, including names you’ll recognize like Brian St. Pierre (who we wound up hiring [...]
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