Hot Air

Here is story to set the paleo alarm bells ringing! Driving in to work this morning I caught a news item about how a government think-tank had been asked to think laterally and solve two key problems. I pissed myself laughing .... until I realised that it was 'factual'.

Before I give you the 'problem', let me give you the 'solution'. The problem was to kill 30% of all sheep and cows in Britain. The effect of this was to save the environment and to make us healthier.

The reasoning? Well, the reasoning was as follows:

• The theory goes like this: if you have less ruminant livestock, you emit less climate-damaging methane into the atmosphere.
  You also have less meat to eat, which means less saturated fat in our diets and thus less heart disease.

Next time you see Gordon Brown climbing out of his chauffeur driven Jaguar, you might want to reflect on both the notion of ill health and pollution.

Climbing Specific Routine

I am still trying to balance out and adjust my training in the face of the demands of Lau Gar. Short and hard is the training mantra of the moment - oh, and listening to my body. But the Lau Gar session comes AFTER this workout - so tonight could be interesting!

The aim is three passes through 1a-1c and then three sets of 2a-2c. Reps are not absolute - but best not go much above them. Move slower on the negative phase to ensure you tire before hitting the target - except for the MUs where you should aim for 5-8 reps on each set.

Warm Up (5 mins)
Main (20 mins)
1a) Sprint (10s, 10s)/Pistols* (6 per leg)
1b) L-Sit Muscle Ups to Basic Ring Routine to Tuck Lever (3MUs, 3MUs, 3MUs)
1c) Fingerboard Laddering

2a) Ring Cuts to Splits Combination (6, 6, 6)
2b) Tuck Planche (6s, 6s, 5s)
2c) Deadhang Repeaters (3a:7r:120s on small rungs)

*Notice the move from sprints for two sets to pistols on the final set

It was a cold, wet night so the prospect of completing a workout was not that appealing. But after the first sprint I felt like it was 'game-on!". At the risk of repeating myself, for me there is no better statement of intent to your body than a sprint ("un-corking the champagne")!

Superdiets

Diet. The very word is loaded with debilitating baggage. Of all the burdened terms, none goes as heavily laden as Atkins. Sadly for the paleo crowd, we get lumped in with Atkins.

Today's Observer has an interesting article titled "Superdiets? They're just a fairytale, says top doctor". Now believe that paleo eating is deemed faddish by the wider population but check out what our 'top doctor' (Professor Chris Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology), has to say about the Atkins diet which he concedes '...is one of the few that carries at least a small amount of evidence':

• "It is not terribly healthy in the sense that you are going to have a lot of fat, but if you lose weight then it is a good thing," he said. "The theory is that it resets the metabolic rate and there is some science to back that up."

So although he makes recourse to mainstream fat phobia, and although he implies that eating fat does not make us fat, he can at least see the benefit of this approach. It would be nice to ask him why eating a lot of fat is 'not terribly healthy'.

He does favour the 'balanced diet' developed by nutritionist Esther Blum, who '...advocates eating full-fat foods in moderation to help metabolise cholesterol and to improve sex drive'.

So clearly when Esther Blum recommends eating full-fat foods, it is good. But Atkins' endorsement of fat is bad. Blum suggests that the fitness industry is premised on failure (I blogged about this same idea over a year ago), and suggests we should not look at foods as good and bad, and to accepts some fat in our lives.

Reading between the line I still think she sees fat as bad, but reckons we can have success by allowing ourselves to enjoy it.

Personally I think any success comes from the fact that 'animal fat' is NOT bad and that as it is pleasurable and satiating, allowing people to eat it is the REASON Blum's diet works for some - rather than her idea that “A little self-acceptance goes a long way to softening our own critical voice, which can serve as a barrier to helping us reach our goals.” She does nail it on the exercise front though, viewing it as “an opportunity, not a punishment.”

Amen to that!

So now we have growing acceptance that eating fat can make us thinner. All we need do now is tackle the notion that eating fat will NOT clog up our arteries.

Round two. Ding! Ding!

Static Dynamic Routine

This workout is perhaps my favourite....I mean I like ALL my workouts - they contain variety, novelty and a good general challenge. But this workout has that 'tension' as I make the move from the static exercise to the dynamic.

I know during that transition that I am a few seconds away from SERIOUS physical demand that requires real focus and application.

Wam Up (5 mins)
Main (25 mins)
1a) Rowing (1x500m, level 7, 28spm: 1'35")

2a) Chair Sit (60s) to Pillar Jumps (2x10)
2b) Handstand (2x60s) to Alternate One Arm 3kg Medicine Ball Throws (2x10 - 20 in total per rep)

3a) Lever (5s) to Chin Ups (3 x to failure - 12, 8, 6)
3b) RLLs (Straight Leg - 1x5)/Deadlift (1x5 RM to 'almost failure' with > BW weights)

The rowing is really an extension of the warm up. The 'meat & potatoes' occurs in parts 2 and 3.

Section two, performed as a pair, involves three lots of 2a and two sets of 2b. The same goes for section three. So for example, for section three I start with the Lever and Pull Up (L2PU) combination, and then move to RLLs. Second time through I do L2PUs and then move to Deadlifts. I complete with a set of L2PUs only.

Rest as necessary between groups of exercises (so between 1 and 2, and 2 and 3). But no excessive intra-set rests!

As always the emphasis is on the negative phase of the exercise - particularly with pull ups. Also with PUs, you need to pull up so your neck is well above the bar and lower to almost straight arms. Use that full range of motion. Oh yeah - and NO kipping or wild swinging.

With the Medicine Ball throws, explode that ball upwards on EVERY throw with everything you have. Try to catch it one handed as well - with the same hand. You should experience failure by the 10th rep - if not then first, throw harder and higher, and if that does not work, use a heavier weight.

The planches have been pushed to the climbing/sport specific workouts but reckon I should move them to part of my Lau Gar warm up.

Brutal!

The Shopping List

There is an old drinking game I used to play as a student which involved sitting in a circle with a group of friends. It was called 'The Shopping List'. One person names an item of shopping such as "Butter". The person to his/her left would then repeat the list thus-far and then name an additional item ("milk"), and so it would go on around the circle - where each person in turn had to repeat the list correctly and add an additional item.

Failure to repeat the list would involve a drink related punishment and the task of repeating the list once again would fall to the previous participant. If s/he failed the process was repeated.

My Lau Gar instructor has recently adopted a similar approach to training which is based upon the Shopping List game above. If you need a short, tough workout, then try this:

The Exercise

Select five exercises. I suggest 1) Skipping, 2) Crunches, 3) Press Ups, 4) Burpees, 5)Pull Ups.

The aim is to do exercise one for 30s and then rest 30s. The repeat exercise one for 30s, move straight to exercise two and then rest for a further 30s. Round three means repeating exercise one for 30s, exercise two for 30s, exercise three for 30s and then rest for 30s. And so it goes on until you have completed all five exercises.

This should be the hardest ten minutes of your life. You can vary the exercise choice to emphasise a body part, or you can shorten the rests, extend the duration of the exercise or add another iteration of exercise - as long as you maintain intensity throughout.

Changes

Given the nature of current Lau Gar workouts I think I might have to re-plan my training to allow rest and recovery but also to allow me to achieve my goals - particularly the gymnastic ones, AND allow me to climb and fight.

Calvin advised some time ago that I try a form of synaptic facilitation (Clarence Bass covers this in detail here), which is a form of Pavel's 'greasing the groove' approach to training. I think now might be the time for me to try this approach. I need to put some time in to accommodating the demands I make upon my body.

As always I know that I am trying to cover many bases, but confident of how I understand feedback, I should be able to pull something effective together!

The 'Stupid', it Burns!

So, anyone out there following government nutritional guidelines would appear to have been eating 400 less calories than appropriate!

• The recommended daily intake of calories could be increased by up to 16%, a draft report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition said.

It just drives me crazy that anyone would realistically think you can simply 'choose' to stop short or over shoot your body's daily requirement of calories without some kind of compensatory factor kicking in.

Bit of Bouldering

Just did some bouldering at the local wall today. I have definitely maintained much of my strength even thought the volume of climbing I have been doing this year has fallen rapidly.

My strength felt good but I was not pulling on holds as small as usual for as long as usual. I thinkthat this might be as much to do with my increased weight over the past year. Bigger thighs are no use in the vertical!

I felt tired yesterday so skipped the planned workout. Monday's rope-climbing was clearly brutal. I could feel it in my back and shoulders for the following two days and knew even on Friday that I was below baseline. I should be stoked for something next week - reckon I might train on a different day and see what happens. As always, I will try to listen to my body and let it guide me.

Importantly, today was all about 'play'. Mixing with friends with some good natured banter.