Archive for March, 2009

24
March

Why Curt Schilling Should Go to the Hall of Fame

I got a phone call this morning around 7:30AM.  I knew it was coming, but was just a matter of time.  So, when I saw Curt Schilling’s name on the Caller ID, I figured that he was ready to call it a career - and a brilliant career at that.  You can read his official [...]
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24
March

Strength Training and Skill Training

I have been reflecting more on the interview that I did the other day with Doug McGuff. In particular I’ve been thinking about this issue of strength training versus skill training.

Here is a quote from Richard Winnett that says something similar to Doug:

Similar arguments can be made concerning ‘functional’ and ’stability’ training. The basic assumptions are that training in a specific way transfers directly to a sport or activity of daily living and training in unstable environments activates more muscle fibers and also will better transfer to unstable ‘real life tasks’.

The arguments made for this kind of training fall apart when the research literature is consulted. At best, studies suggest that transfer of training occurs very little or not at all. This is what is meant by these outcomes. Training in a certain way such as very rapid movements or jumping with weights does not enhance rapid movements or jumping, for example, in a sport, any more than conventional training enhances such performance.

The major outcomes of such studies suggest that the goal should be to gain strength in a safe, efficient, and effective way and then learn how to use that strength in a given sport. Trying to mimic the sport in training makes little or no sense.

I am really intrigued by that last statement: gain strength in a safe, efficient, and effective way and then learn how to use that strength in a given sport.

The sort of research he is talking about is here.

I’ve started to sense a “freedom” about the approach that he is promoting. Sometimes there is a danger - for me at least - of always looking for the next big thing, looking for the secret training approach that will finally sort me out and make me perform better. Doug’s approach is straightforward - you need basic strength training then you need to practice the skills for your sport. It isn’t complicated - stop looking for the hidden secret.

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24
March

Bruce Lee’s Training - How’d He Get So Ripped?

Wanna know about Bruce Lee’s training? Specifically, how he got so muscular and ripped? Then congratulations, because you’re reading the right web page!
I don’t know about you but Bruce Lee’s physique was probably the one thing that REALLY motivated me to start working out so much when I was younger. I wanted to be really [...]

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24
March

Are you prepared to die on a treadmill?

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24
March

The Mobility Renassaince - FREE Webisode Inside!

Pound for pound, one of the strongest men I’ve ever met sits on my RMAX Faculty: Ryan Hurst, founder of CST Japan, a former US junior national gymnastics champion and police judo black belt from Osaka Japan (though born in Kansas) who overcame cancer through immersion into his daily personal practice of yoga.
The feats that [...]
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22
March

Random Friday Thoughts: 3/13/09

With today being Friday the 13th, I figured we’d roll with that theme for today.  As you probably know, Friday the 13th is - according to superstition - a day of bad or good luck.  Honestly, I didn’t know that good luck was a feasible outcome until I just Googled it, but apparently it is, [...]
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22
March

low-fat, high-protein vs low fat high-carbohydrate

High Protein beats High Carb?

(but where is the fat?)

Background: High-protein (HP) diets are often advocated for weight reduction and weight loss maintenance.
Objective: The aim was to compare the effect of low-fat, high-carbohydrate (HC) and low-fat, HP ad libitum diets on weight maintenance after weight loss induced by a very low-calorie diet, and on metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy obese subjects.
Design: Forty-eight subjects completed the study that consisted of an energy restriction period of 5–6 weeks followed by a weight maintenance period of 12 weeks. During weight maintenance subjects received maltodextrin (HC group) or protein (HP group) (casein (HPC subgroup) or whey (HPW subgroup)) supplements (2 25 g per day), respectively and consumed a low-fat diet.
Results: Subjects in the HP diet group showed significantly better weight maintenance after weight loss (2.3 kg difference, P=0.04) and fat mass reduction (2.2 kg difference, P=0.02) than subjects in the HC group. Triglyceride (0.6 mm difference, P=0.01) and glucagon (9.6 pg ml-1 difference, P=0.02) concentrations increased more in the HC diet group, while glucose (0.3 mm difference, P=0.02) concentration increased more in the HP diet group. Changes in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, insulin, HOMAir index, HbA1c, leptin and adiponectin concentrations did not differ between the diets. No differences were found between the casein- or whey-supplemented HP groups.
Conclusions: These results show that low-fat, high-casein or whey protein weight maintenance diets are more effective for weight control than low-fat, HC diets and do not adversely affect metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in weight-reduced moderately obese subjects without metabolic or cardiovascular complications.

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22
March

What’s Your Total Physical Response; and your Kids?

My mother helped me seek out many alternative educational approaches as a child. But due to my rampant forms of dyslexia, I found great difficulty in comprehending language, understanding concepts and internalizing ideas. So often did I have that glazed over look in the classroom that my teachers nicknamed me “Dazer.”
Unfortunately, my inability to hold [...]
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22
March

Move Your Body Through Space - “Live Long and Prosper”

If you aren’t familiar with the term “Live Long and Prosper”, then you are probably too cool to be reading my blog. Yeah I’m a Star Trek geek, but not one of those guys who dresses up as Captain Kirk. In this article I’m going to talk about the importance of doing movements that require you to move your body as resistance, not just lifting a weight. While a pushup looks like it works the same muscles as a bench press, they provide a different type of resistance. Also, running in place on a treadmill is different than propelling your body over the ground. “You can’t win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” Ooops, wrong movie!

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22
March

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

You might find it weird that I’m playing this song on March 16.

Then again, if you really know me, you know exactly what I mean.  Yes, folks, it’s the first day of the high school baseball season.  Loads of great kids busted their humps with us this off-season, and now we get to go out [...]
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