As for me, my goals for 2008 were to improve my functional strength and improve my overall conditioning and cardiopulmonary health. I have always been focused on strength and muscle mass, but I decided to focus more on conditioning and functional strength this year, and see where it took me. I started doing HIIT programs*, started working with various modalities that focused on conditioning and functional strength and improved strength to bodyweight ratios and such. As some of the groups I have been working with recently (e.g., SWAT teams, etc**) are much more concerned with the above over shear strength and muscle mass, I thought it was best for me to put some focus there as I didn’t want to be one of those “do as I say not as I do” type trainers and I am not getting any younger either!

On the Fat Loss Revealed (FLR) and Bodybuilding Revealed (BBR) forums we saw many pounds of unwanted fat lost and plenty of muscle and strength added, so 2008 seemed to be a productive year for the FLR and BBR members.

I hope you achieved your goals for 2008, and I wish you continued success in 2009. If you want (need?!) some assistance with those goals, there is no better program for permanent fat loss then FLR, and for truly science based info regarding supplements, training, and nutrition for gaining strength and muscle mass, BBR simply has no equal…I hope you all have a healthy and productive 2009 to all…See you in the gym!

* = As part of the Hybrid Training program I developed.

** = see videos section of the blog or my YouTube page for more info if interested.

I have always been conscious of the potential impurities in drinking water. My town sends out a yearly report on water quality, and has always been well below EPA limits on the chemicals they test for. Regardless, I have always used a water filter to filter my drinking water. (1)

However, until recently, I did not have a whole house water filter system. About 6 months ago I installed a in-line water filter system for the entire house. This was not an expensive or fancy unit (2), and is designed to take out soil, silt, sediments, iron, etc, and is rated as a 5 micron filter. It’s not a chemical filter, which means it will not remove chemicals that may find there way into the general water system (e.g., pesticides, etc.(3)) but will remove anything 5 microns or above. After 5 months, this was the results:

Clean vs. dirty filter!

A new filter is on the left for comparison. Not very pretty is it? Now, most of that is what the filter is intended to catch, soil, silt, sediments, iron, and miscellaneous crud that gets into any water system. Toxic to human health? In small amounts, probably not. Do you wanna drink the stuff? I don’t, but I can’t speak for you. All I can say is, I was stunned by just how dirty that filter was after 4-5 months of use (they recommend changing this filter every 6 months BTW!) , and I am all the happier I have always at least filtered my drinking water… Regardless of any health issues, all that crud would be normally running through all your water using appliances, so keeping that stuff out of your water heaters, clothes washers (BTW, I swear my clothes are coming out cleaner once I added that filter, but I can’t prove it…) may have some benefits to the appliances. Ever drain your water heater and see all the brown sludge that comes out? That all came from your water supply…

(1) 10 Stage Water Filter

(2) Whole House Water Filters

(3) EPA web site

HOWEVER: You can never allow yourself to recover fully between sets, because if you rest long enough to remove all traces of fatigue, you’ve also rested long enough to remove all traces of the neural drive that accumulated from previous sets. So the trick is to find the “sweet spot” on that continuum, where fatigue has been diminished, yet where you’ve still got some neural drive remaining from previous work.

One of the most significant epiphanies I’ve had about my own training is that, being fairly average on the fiber-type ratio, I don’t need as much rest between sets as I’d intuitively think. Here’s why: if you’re neurologically superior (predominantly fast-twitch) you’re tapping into a much higher percentage of your true potential when you lift heavy…therefore, you need longer rests. BUT, if you’re a slow-twitch dominant geek like I am, whenever you lift “heavy,” it’s not really as high a percentage of your capacity as you think. So, 1) you don’t really need the rest, and 2) if you rest too long, you’ve lost a good bit of the neural drive that you so preciously need.

A common issue for athletes and other active populations (e.g. SWAT, SOF, etc.) is joint and connective tissue pain with various causes and diagnosis such as tendonitis, bursitis, cartilage degeneration, to name a few.

The use of various anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as nutritional supplements (e.g., Glucosamine, fish oils, etc,), and other therapeutic modalities are of value, but are far from a cure at this point.

A topic I have been researching for some time is the use of GH and other growth factors as a possible treatment for joint/connective tissue degeneration.

The causes of joint pain are multi factorial, but in active populations are often training related: over training, lack of proper warm up, loading and exercise choices, and other variables.

That’s the first place people should look when having chronic joint issues, but not everyone has a choice in the matter as to how much exercise they do and or the types of exercise they perform; various athletes, special operations soldiers, SWAT operators, etc.

I have written in prior articles that I think the use of GH and other growth factors (IGF-1, etc) was a promising way to treat connective tissue/joint problems, and studies are starting to support that conclusion.
There have been impressive developments recently in the use of growth factors for accelerated healing of sports related injuries, overuse syndromes, improved healing after some plastic surgery procedures, as well as studies finding success in the area of orthopedics.

More controversial, my hypothesis has also been that many people who suffer from chronic connective tissue problems and chronic back problems are often found to have low IGF-1, and reversing that state of low IGF-1 as a treatment for these pathologies is a viable treatment. It appears the former concept – using growth factors to treat joint pathology - is getting greater attention with the scientific/medical community. The latter concept - that a deficiency in these growth factors may be the cause of their joint related problems - a much more controversial idea.

But hey, I don’t mind being ahead of the curve and waiting for the scientific and medical community to catch up to me! Remember, Growth factors (e.g., IGF-1, bFGF, PDGF, EGF, and others) are the mediators that control the biological processes necessary for repair of soft tissues. After hitting the gym or the road with 60-80lbs of stuff on your back, and having muscles and joints in need of repair from micro trauma caused by those activities - or in the case of traumatic injury to muscles, tendons and ligaments - these growth factors are responsible for healing the injuries, with animal studies showing clear benefits in terms of accelerated healing and repair.

Regarding research on the issue of using growth factors to treat sports related injuries, a recent review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine entitled “Growth Factor Delivery Methods in the Management of Sports Injuries: The State of Play” examined the issue. The review covered a wide range of topics that examined the use of growth factors for treating various sports medicine related injuries. However, the report also noted,

“The use of growth factors in Sports Medicine is restricted under the terms of the WADA* anti-doping code, particularly because of concerns regarding the IGF-1 content of such preparations, and the potential for abuse as performance-enhancing agents.”

So, as hormones such as growth hormone (GH), IGF-1, as well as others may have performance benefits in athletes, they are banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are on the WADA list of agents.

It’s important to note that this review is talking mostly about directly delivering, via injection, the growth factor in question into the injured joint, which results in a much higher concentration to the injured area while reducing whole body/systemic exposure.

The IOC and WADA are concerned with athletes taking these hormones for performance enhancement vs. treating an injury. However, WADA has what they refer to as a “Therapeutic Use Exemption” which states:

“Athletes, like all others, may have illnesses or conditions that require them to take particular medications. If the medication an athlete is required to take to treat an illness or condition happens to fall under the Prohibited List, a Therapeutic Use Exemption may give that athlete the authorization to take the needed medicine.”

There are various ways of delivering higher doses of growth factors to injured tissue, but each has in a reliance on the release of the aforementioned growth factors which are released upon injection at the site of an injury. This means you get a high therapeutic dose at the site of the injury with a low whole body/systemic exposure of these growth factors.

So what about athletes and other active populations using GH who are not subject to IOC or WADA rules? Many athletes using low dose GH report improved joint function and less pain from GH therapy. Of course, not injecting it into the joint (and that should NEVER be attempted without medical supervision), which is how most athletes use GH, means a greater whole body effect and a lower concentration at the site of injury, which opens up additional areas of concern.

Regardless, it still appears to help with joint problems. I also recommend people who have chronic joint problems have their IGF-1 levels checked via blood tests. Healthy young people who have adequate diets and protein intakes don’t generally suffer from low IGF-1 levels, though I find it’s more common than some might realize, and not uncommon in older adults.

Finally, the use of GH for joint problems has to be done in the context of legality. I do not recommend people use illegally obtained GH for this use and need to find a medical doctor willing to work with them on their medical/joint related problems, but physicians using GH for this use is becoming more common as additional research and clinical feedback becomes available.

Creaney L, Hamilton B.
Growth Factor Delivery Methods in the Management of Sports Injuries:The State of Play. Br J Sports Med. 2007 Nov 5

* = The World Anti-Doping Agency

Sometimes, these injuries take the form of chronic inflammatory problems such as medialepichondialitis (tennis elbow), a shoulder that clicks, low back spasm, heel pain, the list goes on and on. Often, these injuries are unnoticed during normal day to day activities, but as soon as you try to run or lift, or anything else, there it is again. This leads to the observation that weight training doesn’t cause injuries, it reveals them.

In this post I’m going to outline a training method that, more times than not, will allow you to re-establish your training without flaring up those injuries. I call it the “boil the frog” method. But first, let’s look at a few things you really should consider if the opening paragraphs of this post sound like you…

1. Get a complete physical. Blood work, the whole nine yards. Make sure your hormones are balanced, that you don’t have any glaring nutritional deficiencies, stuff like that. Incidentally, very few people seem to appreciate that health SCREENING is not preventative: screening by itself won’t improve your health. It just tells you what’s wrong. Nevertheless, it’s important to rule out as many factors as possible before you start examining things in more detail.

2. Massage does a lot more than “relieve tired muscels,” as the miss-spelled sign at my local 24-Hour Fitness Center states. A good soft-tissue therapist can assess your “basic” soft-tissue health- is your muscle tissue healthy, or is it loaded with spasm and trigger points? This is an important step because if you’ve got spasmed tissue, your training efforts will just lead to further spasm and scar tissue. Here’s what happens: a spasm is basically a hyper-contracted chunk of muscle- in other words, it’s contracting on it’s own volition, not because you’re asking it to contract. Over time, that little chunk of muscle becomes ischemic- meaning, it’s not getting sufficient oxygen.

Eventually, that leads to tissue death and ultimately, a scar. Now you’re screwed, because when you train that muscle, there’s less tissue available to do the same job, and the borders of that scar tend to tear, then spasm, then lose oxygen, then scar, etc., etc. Bottom line- if you don’t have spasmed tissue addressed with massage, it just gets bigger and bigger.

3. Seek to achieve an “anti-inflammatory diet.” Avoid processed carbohydrates, and make sure you’re getting adequate protein, water, and EFA’s.

4. Don’t ignore flexibility and aerobic exercise. You don’t have to make a career out of it, but resistance training tends to be “anti-circulatory” (when you contract a muscle more than about 75% of it’s maximum force, it actually shuts off it’s own blood supply) as well as “procontracture” (meaning, tends to shorten muscle tissue).

Now It’s Time to Boil That Frog

There“s an old parable about what happens when you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water- it jumps out! However, as the parable teaches us, if you put the frog in some warm water, it just sits there fat and happy. Now what you do is slowly, ever so slowly, turn up the temperature until the water boils, and the frog never knows the difference.

OK, I know, probably at some point the frog will jump out, but don’t miss the point of the story: if you apply a stress very consistently and gradually, and provide adequate resources for recovery, the organism (body, muscle, tendon, whatever), will learn to tolerate it.

Now keep in mind, some problems are not fixable, no matter what you do. For example, if you have no meniscus cartilage in your knee, you’ll probably never become a marathon runner (on the other hand, I know of at least one instance of a one-legged athlete squatting over 600 pounds in official competition!) But if your injuries have ANY possibility of healing, I have a way to do that.

Why Charles Couldn’t Squat, And How He Fixed It

Here’s a practical example of how this principle actually worked for me: In 1986 I had a total open synovectomy on my right knee to (hopefully) solve a nasty case of synovial osteo-chondramotosis. In plain English, the synovial lining of my knee was, for whatever reason, producing little pieces of calcium that would break off and start wandering around in my knee joint.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the surgery worked, but left me with only about 110 degrees of flexion in that knee. So after about 5-6 years of weight training, I created a hip imbalance that over time, rendered me unable to squat without constantly tearing my left adductor muscle(s).

You cannot imagine (OK, maybe you can) the frustration I experienced, not being able to squat, deadlift, or perform any lower body movement without having 4-5 days of massive soreness in my left adductor (if it was both adductors, I probably would have been happy!). In any event, I initiated an experiment. One day, I squatted the empty bar for 3 sets of 5 reps, confident that this ridiculously minor load would have no adverse effect.

I was wrong. The next morning, I lightly tore my left adductor sitting down on the toilet. I was livid and frustrated beyond description. But I persevered. Six days later, my adductor felt fine, so I grabbed that bar and did one single set of 5 reps- 1/3 the load of the previous workout.

Next day, hmmm. A little bit of soreness in the left adductor. As soon as that soreness was gone (about 2 days later), I did 45 for 2 sets of 5. Again, this resulted in light soreness. So 2 days later I did 2×5 again, and FINALLY, this load did not injure me at all.

Gradually, I worked my way up, and to reach the conclusion of the story, today I can squat 450. I won’t win too many power meets with that squat, but for a 44 year old geek with a knee that (according to my surgeon) shouldn’t permit me to even walk, I consider it a victory.

10 Steps For Training Pain-Free

If your goals mean enough to you can you can delay gratification, I believe you can experience similar results in your own training. There are a number of ways you can set up your training cycle. You can use whatever your favorite weekly training split, but consider these suggestions:

1. Use the widest possible variety of exercises, stressing varied positions and joint angles. Especially stress positions that you don’t tend to use for fear of injury.

2. At the beginning use loads that you’re SURE will not provoke your injury. This might in some cases mean doing stuff like curling no weight for 5 sets of 5 (yes, I’m serious).

3. Progress VERY gradually. In the case of the empty curls, work up to 5×6, then 5×7, etc. When you hit 5×10, start curling a 2.5 pound plate for 5×5. Then 5×6, etc., etc.

4. Because the loads are so light, you won’t really need to rest between sets much at all.

5. Because the loads are so light, you should be able to train frequently- probably every day. The body’s most unique feature is it’s ability to adapt- more frequent training “teaches” the body to accept constant challenge.

6. If at any time you re-injure yourself, wait until your symptoms subside and drop the previous workout’s volume by 1/2. In other words, if 4×6 caused re-injury, wait for it to heal and then do 4×3. If that goes OK, start climbing your way back up.

7. Be flexible and creative. If something on your schedule hurts right at the outset, make a pain-free substitution right then, on the fly.

8. Understanding pain symptomology: Sometimes you’ll know if you’re hurting yourself right when you’re performing the offending exercise. Sometimes you won’t know until the next day. Pay attention and become sensitive to these issues.

9. Despite my earlier advice about stretching, don’t stretch a sore, torn or “tweaked” muscle- you’ll only injure it further.

10. Start right, finish right: Light aerobic activity before and after the workout will make tissues warm and more pliable (pre-workout), and will enhance circulatory oxygenation and cellular nutrition (post-workout). Don’t cut corners, EVER.

The Tortoise and The Hare

Ever wondered why parables always involve animals? Me too. Anyway, the slow but steady approach must be your constant mantra if you want to keep training in the wake of chronic injuries. The guy squatting 800 on the rack across the gym might be mere moments from an injury anyway. Seek slow, continuous, steady challenge every day- your injured tissues don’t like big surprises, they like predictability. Treat your body with a velvet glove instead of an iron fist, and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.

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The issue of post and pre workout nutrition, or “nutrient timing” is a never ending discussion among dedicated athletes and weekend warriors. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) has recently put out a position paper on the issue of nutrient timing. This paper is a must read for those who want the latest science on the issue. Abstract follows with link to full paper:

Review

International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Nutrient timing

Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2008, 5:18

Chad Kerksick, et al.

Abstract

Position Statement: The position of the Society regarding nutrient timing and the intake of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in reference to healthy, exercising individuals is summarized by the following eight points:

1.) Maximal endogenous glycogen stores are best promoted by following a high-glycemic, high-carbohydrate (CHO) diet (600 – 1000 grams CHO or ~8 – 10 g CHO/kg/d), and ingestion of free amino acids and protein (PRO) alone or in combination with CHO before resistance exercise can maximally stimulate protein synthesis.

2.) During exercise, CHO should be consumed at a rate of 30 – 60 grams of CHO/hour in a 6 – 8% CHO solution (8 – 16 fluid ounces) every 10 – 15 minutes. Adding PRO to create a CHO-PRO ratio of 3 – 4:1 may increase endurance performance and maximally promotes glycogen re-synthesis during acute and subsequent bouts of endurance exercise.

3.) Ingesting CHO alone or in combination with PRO during resistance exercise increases muscle glycogen, offsets muscle damage, and facilitates greater training adaptations after either acute or prolonged periods of supplementation with resistance training.

4.) Post-exercise (within 30 minutes) consumption of CHO at high dosages (8 – 10 g CHO/kg/day) have been shown to stimulate muscle glycogen re-synthesis, while adding PRO (0.2 g – 0.5 g PRO/kg/day) to CHO at a ratio of 3 – 4:1 (CHO: PRO) may further enhance glycogen re-synthesis.

5.) Post-exercise ingestion (immediately to 3 h post) of amino acids, primarily essential amino acids, has been shown to stimulate robust increases in muscle protein synthesis, while the addition of CHO may stimulate even greater levels of protein synthesis. Additionally, pre-exercise consumption of a CHO + PRO supplement may result in peak levels of protein synthesis.

6.) During consistent, prolonged resistance training, post-exercise consumption of varying doses of CHO + PRO supplements in varying dosages have been shown to stimulate improvements in strength and body composition when compared to control or placebo conditions.

7.) The addition of creatine (Cr) (0.1 g Cr/kg/day) to a CHO + PRO supplement may facilitate even greater adaptations to resistance training.

8.) Nutrient timing incorporates the use of methodical planning and eating of whole foods, nutrients extracted from food, and other sources. The timing of the energy intake and the ratio of certain ingested macronutrients are likely the attributes which allow for enhanced recovery and tissue repair following high-volume exercise, augmented muscle protein synthesis, and improved mood states when compared with unplanned or traditional strategies of nutrient intake.

Source: ISSN Blog

Brink Bottom Line: The ISSN is by far the most forward thinking ‘cutting edge’ science org out there, and always worth paying attention to, and this is one of their better papers.

Full Paper:

http://www.jissn.com/content/5/1/17

BRINK

It could be worse I suppose, could be some horrible gossip show or a fan show dedicated to Celine Dion fans or something…

• Using acceleration as leverage for triggering anaerobic metabolism and Type IIb fiber stimulation. Muscles don’t know how much weight is on the bar, they only know how much tension they’re experiencing. We can safely develop the highest tensions using moderate weights, provided we focus on accelerating each and every rep to maximum speed. If you’re worried about momentum lifting the weight, don’t be: it was your muscles that created the momentum in the first place.

• Finding the easiest way to move a weight, not the hardest. This ties into the previous point. The nervous system is designed for efficiency, not inefficiency. Probably has something to do with conservation of energy, or maybe mother nature’s disinterest in you doing anything but living long enough for you to pass your genes on to the next generation. Nonetheless, the best way to train muscles is to find exercises that 1) permit many muscle groups to cooperate in the task as a team, and 2) allow efficient acceleration of the load. What’s that? If you’re efficient, you don’t burn as many calories? Not to worry, we’ll just do a LOT more sets to make up the difference. Like maybe 14 sets per exercise— maybe more.

• Prioritizing performance over pain. “Exercisers” place value on physical activity based on how much it does or doesn’t hurt. If it hurts, it must be working. Athletes, on the other hand, know that it’s the work you do— not how it feels to do that work— that determines the end result. It takes “X” amount of energy to do “X” amount of work, so remember that the next time your buddy helps you with a few forced reps after you hit failure on a set of decline benches.

I could continue with more parallels, but maybe you’d like to chime in yourself…if so, please leave me a comment below.

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The title of this blog is not actually a type of training, but a personality type. People who train only to achieve an endpoint I refer to as “Endpoint Trainers” and those who integrate and internalize the process of training into their life, I call Process Trainers. The endpoint Trainer is always focused on the endpoint, and views the process of training as just a means to an end to achieve that end point/goal.

Perfect example of that is the person who is training to hit a specific goal of losing 30lbs, and once they achieve that goal, stop training. People who enter a weight loss contest at work or at the gym, achieve that goal, then stop exercising. This phenomena is not limited to weight loss by any means. We see it a lot with high level athletes at the college and professional levels. Once they stop playing the sport, they stop exercising altogether. I have seen this way too many times to count.

This personality type gets so focused on achieving the end point, seeing the training as simply the means to an end - vs. an integral part of their life - once they reach the endpoint, or worse, fail to reach it when they think they should, they quit. I know many bodybuilders for example who, if they don’t have a specific show to train for, they lose all motivation to workout. I know figure and fitness competitors who are also just like that: if they don’t have a show to diet and train for, they lose all motivation to train at all. No show, no motivation, so they are continuously getting ready for next years show…

Now, The Process Trainer views the very process of training as an important and integrated part of their life. They take pleasure in the process, and don’t need a specific endpoint to motivate them to exercise. Of course they enjoy the results of that training, and strive to reach various endpoints/goals of personal value (e.g., gaining X lbs of muscle, or a personal best at a powerlifting meet, or dropping bodyfat, etc.) but they don’t require a specific endpoint to happen by a specific time to stay motivated. The training itself is its own reward. They know they will have good days, they know they will have bad days, they know life has a habit of throwing a monkey wrench into our grand plans, and they find a way to work with it, around it, or through it, but they don’t quit.

I find Endpoint Trainers to be temporary trainers, as you can’t play sports forever, you can’t gain muscle and strength forever, and you can’t lose weight or compete in bodybuilding or figure forever. It comes to an end, due to age, injuries, or just life, and they quit training. I find they become easily discouraged if things don’t go exactly according to plan as they expect it to. They have never truly come to realize the process is part of the journey and the enjoyment.

The Process Trainer realizes there will be set backs, plateaus, road blocks, and various other realities of life that will conspire to make it difficult to get to the gym, or the track, or the pool, or what ever, but they carry on. Process Trainers don’t like missing time from their training anymore then the next person, but they don’t sweat it either, because they see the long term process, and know year in and year out, they will be there… Process Trainers set goals, achieve them, and move on. More importantly, Process Trainers realize not all goals will be met at the time they expected, but they know they will be back another day to try it again.

The Endpoint Trainer, who sees training as a means to an end vs. part of the benefits of being alive, and enjoying the process, will get frustrated when a goal is not met at exactly the time they planned it, in the way they planned it, and quit. Or, as mentioned above, will reach a specific goal (endpoint), and either find a new goal/endpoint to fixate on, or simply stop training.

The Process Trainer is a life long trainer, who can and will deal with the good and the bad; The Endpoint Trainer, by definition, is not a life long trainer. So look in the mirror and be honest with yourself, are you an Endpoint Trainer or a Process Trainer? If the former, you need to make a paradigm shift in your approach to life long health and fitness, or you will not have life long health and fitness…

See you in the gym!

Historically, most lifters have tended to go intense & heavy on the core lifts, and then a bit lighter on the assistance lifts. In recent years, powerlifting maverick Louie Simmons turned the traditional paradigm upside down: his Westside charges go moderate and fast on the core lifts, and then get down to business, going super-heavy on the assistance lifts.

Here’s why this approach CAN work very well, especially for experienced lifters:

If you’re experienced, you’re fairly near your ultimate potential. This means that it’s hard to make new PR’s on your core lifts, because those are the lifts you’ve been doing the longest and hardest. Therefore, if you’re an Olympic lifter for example, you’ll have a lot more emotional and psychological angst surrounding your two competitive lifts than you will for assistance lifts like pulls, squats, and so on.

That said, follow me for a second…

If you focus mostly on hitting good numbers on your core lifts, and you don’t do so well, you’ll find yourself getting frustrated and depressed. This further increases future angst. BUT…if you instead train the core lifts moderately, and seek big numbers on the assistance lifts, one of two things can happen:

1) If you do well on the assistance lifts, you think “Great- this should “leak over” into my core lifts.” (if I’ve chosen the right assistance lifts anyway). Or…

2) If you don’t do well, you’ll think “Well, they’re only assistance lifts.” No sweat. It’s a lot better for your confidence.

That’s my take…what’s yours?

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