Battle of the Diets

One that was doing the rounds last year and worth looking at again:

Fat, Sugar and Fry Ups

This article on EurekAlert suggests that diets high in fat and sugar are especially fattening:

• a diet that is high in fat and in sugar actually switches on genes that ultimately cause our bodies to store too much fat. This means these foods hit you with a double-whammy as the already difficult task of converting high-fat and high-sugar foods to energy is made even harder because these foods also turn our bodies into "supersized fat-storing" machines.

The mice used in the experiment were fed a diet high in fat and sucrose. The article goes on:

• In the research report, scientists show that foods high in fat and sugar stimulate a known opioid receptor, called the kappa opioid receptor, which plays a role in fat metabolism. When this receptor is stimulated, it causes our bodies to hold on to far more fat than our bodies would do otherwise.

For a HG tribe you can imagine that you'd be hunting your staple animal all year around - be it buffalo or bison, mammoth or woolly rhino. Big beasts contain higher levels of fat than smaller fauna (in addition to seasonal variation in fat levels).

In summer, you'd imagine the HG sweetening his/her diet with available fruits. Your body cannot store large amounts of carbohydrate, or rather the storage space is limited. But fat? Your body can store a lot of fat.

Summer provides the perfect macronutrients to optimise energy storage for the winter months ahead where moving from one place to another, hunting and/or simply sitting still and keeping warm would require more energy. The amount of carbohydrate available during the winter months would fall dramatically.

When you think about it, this means we store fat in summer when 'calories out' is likely to be much lower. No freezing temperatures to compete with (and no heavy animal skins to carry around to keep warm). No snow to plough through in pursuit of food or fuel for a fire.

Logical and simple eh? Nothing really that hard to follow and nothing truly revolutionary. Notice how our HG didn't have to restrict calories at any point? No animal 'leaves the table' hungry if it can help it.

The Fry Up

So now we come to the Fry-Up. A serial killer convicted over 40 years ago - it now turns out that he might actually be innocent!

The Telegraph reports today that "Bacon and eggs 'could help mothers-to-be boost the intelligence of unborn child'":

• "MUMS-TO-BE should tuck in to regular fry-ups to boost their baby's brain, scientists have claimed.
  
  Researchers says a nutrient found in eggs, bacon and pork sausages helps brain development."

This is all to do with Choline. A water-soluble essential nutrient found in beef, chicken and eggs that plays a significant role in the central nervous system.

I am particularly fond of the journalistic (and arguably scientific), Pendulum of Crap which swings back and forth tick-tocking the between the message that 'food x is bad' and then 'erm....food x is good'.

Following the paleo model of 'eating close to the ground' with as much unprocessed food as possible, grass-fed meats and seasonal salad/fruit/vegetables, I am rather unmoved by such content. But it does raise a smile and remind me that diet and training research is right too often to be ignored and wrong too often to be relied upon.

The Consistent Story

GarageStrength has two good interviews with Gary Taubes:

GTG for 2010

I ended 2009 with some GTG work on Pistols and Handstands. I am not sure how this will translate to my RM (and have yet to test it), but will aim to play with this idea over the coming weeks.

I think my GTG workout is going to be a ladder of:

1-5 of Fingertip PullUps,
1s - 5s Tuck Planche, and,
10s - 50s Horse Riding Stance.

Each of these are done with up to 50%RM and I currently only have five rungs on my ladder, as I am using so many exercises. They will be done in between my regular workouts.

First Climbing W/O of 2010

The main workout today is as follows:

Warm Up
Snowboarding down my street and walking back up (for time)

Main (25 mins)
1a) Pistols (5, 4, 3)
1b) Frog Planch (30s, 20s, 10s)
1c) Tuck Lever (30s, 20s, 10s)

2a) Ring Splits/Cuts (2x6 each way)
2b) Rope Climb to Cirques (2 'laps')

3a) Intermediate Fingerboarding

The pistols felt pretty solid. The cirques hurt a bit! As for the warm up - snowboarding had me fired up head to toe.

DC's Improbable Science

I mentioned a few days ago of a review of Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories (aka The Diet Delusion), by David Colquhoun.

The comments have been unfolding in the usual pattern by which I mean that there is much support for the ''eat less, do more" model and plenty of incredulity from those that obviously have not read Taubes book.

What got my attention though was comment 19 by 'anoopbal' who says:

• And honestly, do you really think all these obesity researchers got it all wrong all these years?

DC faces straight up to it thusly:

• Yes, I think that if you were involved in research yourself, you would realise that it is entirely possible for researchers to get the story wrong over many years. That is particularly true in an area like this where so much of the data are based on unreliable observational epidemiology.

You have to be impressed by his frankness here. I can't help thinking that it is very significant that someone such as DC has picked up on "Good Calories, Bad Calories". His favourable review will undoubtedly prompt others to read it also.

Incidentally he has posted an excellent piece about the strength of the evidence that processed meat causes colorectal cancer (conclusion, very weak).

Pavel's Ladder - More Volume, Less Time

Clarence Bass has another useful article regarding the use of synaptic facilitation to achieve more volume in less time.

I have been using a similar (but much less well structured) approach over Christmas. I didn't really focus on my planche and levers (which is actually where I wanted to progress). I ended up throwing sets of pistols, HSPUs and pull ups on the spur of the moment as the place I was staying was best suited to this.

The CB article suggests ladders of up to 70-80%RM. You start with one rep, then 2...3, 4, 5 and so forth, stopping a few reps short of your RM. The idea is to maintain freshness.

(A more traditional approach to 'Greasing the Groove' is provided by Mike Mahler who suggestes a five day approach with two days rest, using a 50%RM, 60%RM, 70%, 60%RM and 50%RM profile. The recommendation if for rests between sets of at least five minutes to several hours for a total of three sets per day.)

I need to really only try to develop one exercise at a time. The fingertip pull up is tempting target as it would boost climbing strength, but I so want to up my planche!

A new year, but the same old Asclepius trying to cover too many bases. Still, this means that my motivation is high - and if there is one thing I am aware of, it is over-training and burnout.