Art De Vany has temporarily opened access to his private blog as he migrates to a new platform. Lots of good stuff in there.

• If you only read one, read this one: Mark Sisson on The Primal Blueprint.
• Ross Enamait on The Power of Patience.
• Art De Vany notes the potential benefits of High Intensity Exercise Before Sports.
• Straight to the Bar collects some interesting medicine ball workouts and videos.
• Frostillicus again assembles quality links and videos.
• Wohba finds a great contact juggling video (fans of Michael Moschen will dig this).

Just a quick post, but don't let the brevity fool you, this is a good one... Mark Sisson links up a study that suggests it's the workouts that result in lactate production that stimulate a human growth hormone response (cool study, bummer for the folks with McArdle's disease). Art De Vany follows up with more (upon reading you'll probably want to Google his site for "hierarchical sets").

Art De Vany, Proof of Concept:

I want to show that the conventional wisdom that aging causes a decline in muscle mass, increased obesity, a fall in testosterone, and an unfavorable alteration of blood lipids is not true. So, what are the relevant facts?

Great to read following on the heels of the Sisson post on aging I mentioned recently.

Just clearing a bit of a link backlog:

• Ross Enamait on genetics VS hard work.
• Michael Pollan op-ed: Weed It and Reap.
• Art De Vany: impressive results from a 54-year-old convert.
• The Performance Menu has a bunch of articles online. Check the month links down the left sidebar.

Ketogenic diets and physical performance. Let's cut right to the chase (conclusion) on this one (emphasis added):

Both observational and prospectively designed studies support the conclusion that submaximal endurance performance can be sustained despite the virtual exclusion of carbohydrate from the human diet. Clearly this result does not automatically follow the casual implementation of dietary carbohydrate restriction, however, as careful attention to time for keto-adaptation, mineral nutriture, and constraint of the daily protein dose is required. Contradictory results in the scientific literature can be explained by the lack of attention to these lessons learned (and for the most part now forgotten) by the cultures that traditionally lived by hunting. Therapeutic use of ketogenic diets should not require constraint of most forms of physical labor or recreational activity, with the one caveat that anaerobic (ie, weight lifting or sprint) performance is limited by the low muscle glycogen levels induced by a ketogenic diet, and this would strongly discourage its use under most conditions of competitive athletics.

I found this link via Art De Vany, who says:

The Innuit diet it discusses is not for me, but the controlled studies do show that the modern high carb diet for endurance athletes is over rated (and other evidence shows that it is harmful) and the low carb diet works just fine for real world endurance.

"Real world endurance." Several authors I like (e.g. De Vany, Sisson) keep hitting the point, either directly or tangentially, that elite athletic performance practices run counter to good long-term health practices (in general, not to say the Inuit diet is a particularly healthful one).

Three interesting recent pieces at T-Nation over the past couple weeks or so...

• Periodization Nuts and Bolts. A taste:

  Western periodization yielded what any new training approach, particularly one with weights on non-weight trained subjects, will yield: big initial progress. This progress in the weightroom led to some wise observations (such as high volume builds connective tissue as well as muscle), but also to some very wrong conclusions amongst coaches. For example, very quickly, "hypertrophy" became three sets of 8-12. "Strength" became 5 sets of 5, and "power" became 3 sets of 3. Finally, "peaking" became 3 sets of 1-2 reps. Again, while any kind of training is better than nothing, Western or linear periodization isn't optimal for the needs of high level athletes, targets one area of strength at a time and then ignores it for the rest of the season or cycle, has no back-offs built in, and doesn't address the individual weaknesses of individual athletes.

• Interesting Art DeVany Interview transcript. Be sure to check the comments for John Berardi's input as well.
• Finally, Beta Alanine sounds like a promising supplement (although the extent of my supplement dabbling begins and ends with a creatine experiment, so I'm hardly an expert).

Sorry, bit of a link backlog:

• I'm kinda late with this one, but another big holiday is right around the corner. De Vany on holiday binging:

  And, in case you say "I will binge just this one day," note that the high insulin spike from a meal full of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and other starches and simple carbs will amount to a massive assault on your insulin sensitivity. The footprint of that meal will be there for a long time. You will be curiously vulnerable to carb temptations for some time after because your sensitivity is diminished and your circulating insulin will remain elevated.

• Two via Straight to the Bar (who I'm poaching from with regularity these days): Joachim Bartoll's weblog (I read the fish oil post first, and immediately decided it was worth adding to my aggregator) and this BBC story on desk jockey posture. Maybe my programming slouch isn't such a bad thing!

A bit of a link backlog to clear out:

• Ringtraining.com's training guide (PDF).
• Art De Vany: More Against Grains.
• Beast Skills: Clapping Handstand Pushup. You read that right.
• Straight to the Bar links up Campusing.

• Art De Vany: Work Outs for Chicago Nick and Las Vegas Nick.
• Ross Enamait: Strength Training For Fighters - 15 Random Thoughts (definitely not just for fighters, IMO).

Never one to mince words, a bit from De Vany's Eating the Evolutionary Fitness Way post:

Seventh, you are compromising your long-run health and accelerating the rate at which you age. You are also turning your body into a sugar burner and in the long-run this will lead to a decline in your lean muscle mass. Your career will suffer. You will not have the energy to sustain a long and productive career. You will be sick more often. You will be tired and bored with life. And you will eventually become obese, ill and earn less income.

His follow-up, It's Not Paleo is also interesting.

In light of the Floyd Landis test result, this Sisson/De Vany post is worth linking up again for your consideration. After you read that for background, then go ahead to the latest Sisson/De Vany bit on Landis specifically.

I've collected a few links I've been meaning to post separately, but ran out of time. So here's the lot:

• The photo here is of Parallette Back Push-ups: "The U.S. Navy record for this exercise in 1943 was 89 reps."
• Dynamax medicine ball workout (WMV 5MB). Looks intense. Wish I knew how heavy the ball was. « via CrossFit »
• Art De Vany: Vitamin A, Protein, and Testosterone. Who knew?
• Wow, check out the Seven-minute Michael Owen highlight reel. English striker whose World Cup ended on an ACL tear. What a shame.

I'm going to get lots of mileage out of the last few Rival Training posts...

First up, they link to a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Performance Training Journal PDF, which prompted me to find their archives. What a gold mine! That ought to keep me in reading material for awhile.

Next, a reference to this Outside Magazine bit on the "glycogen window". It reminded me of this contrarian view from Art De Vany I meant to blog awhile ago:

• Gene Expression and Muscle Glycogen
• Those Glucose Guzzling Cyclists
• Mountain Climbing
• Gene Expression and Muscle Glycogen, Part 3

Note there is some distinction to be drawn between quickly replenishing glycogen for performance reasons vs. not quickly replenishing glycogen to elicit a greater training response. Read the comments too, as they are also quite interesting.

Finally, Eileen's Abs Workout, which looks pretty good. Some notes on the exercises:

Lie on your back, knees bent. Raise your head off the floor until your trunk is at about a 45-degree angle. Twist from side to side rapidly 100 times. (KQ Note- arms crossed over chest is the way I've been doing these and seen them done).

These are Russian Twists (or at least that's one name for them). You can make them harder by clasping your hands together and extending your arms out perpendicular to your body. Even harder by holding a medicine ball in your extended arms. Even harder by doing them on an incline bench and holding your body horizontal.

Do 50 "Rocky Balboas", or twist crunches. One knee bent, other straight, hands behind your head. Reach one elbow towards the opposite knee. Alternate sides. (KQ Note- I prefer hands to ears so you don't pull on your neck. And really try to keep your shoulders down, away from your ears)

"Chinnies" or "bicycle crunches" (although I kinda like "Rocky Balboas"). Important to note that the straight leg does not rest on the ground.

Next, do 50 high-speed bicycles. (KQ Note- on back, arms at side. Lift legs up at 90 degree angle, then lift pelvis up off the ground. Arms can help balance. Move legs in a bicycle-y way!)

I'd be tempted to sub in flutter kicks here, as described by Scrapper:

Lie flat on your back and place your hands underneath your butt. Press the small of your back into the ground and raise your feet 6 inches. The first motion is one leg swinging up until your foot is almost over your crotch then, as it descends, the other leg is on the way up.

Good stuff, a tip o' the hat to the Rival Training gang.

Art De Vany reposts a letter in defense of Barry Bonds. I think I'm going to have to read his paper.

Something about the holidays brought lots of interesting stuff across my desk. Or maybe it's coincidence. In either case, here's the trove from the last few days:

Jim at Beast Skills has updated his beginner guide to handstand pushups, and has also added a new intermediate guide and a new freestanding handstand pushup guide. Great stuff, as usual.

Art De Vany on Diabetes, Alzheimer's, and obesity. He concludes:

If this isn't enough to convince you of the need to return to the simple, low-glycemic foods of our ancestors and to work out and stay lean, then you aren't getting your new year off to a promising start.

Crossfit just made The New York Times: "Getting Fit, Even if it Kills You". Coincidentally, Crossfit linked up this great PDF, "Sports Conditioning (a comparison: moderate-intensity continuous activity and high-intensity intermittent activity)" by Mark J. Smith: Some money quotes:

It is also accepted that low- to moderate-intensity activities are useful in recovering from high-intensity exercise and is a necessity in some sports that require repetitive practice to acquire skill. However, while the contention is not that low- to moderate-intensity continuous exercise can improve cardiovascular conditioning and weight loss, the need for significant quantities of this type of training for the field and court sport athlete is indeed challenged.

...and:

It has been demonstrated that low-intensity, long-duration exercise results in a greater total fat oxidation than moderate-intensity exercise of similar caloric expenditure15. However, when endurance training is compared to high-intensity intermittent training, the findings differ. The effect of a 20-week endurance-training program (mean estimated energy cost - 120.4 MJ) upon body fatness and muscle metabolism was compared to a 15-week high-intensity intermittent-training program (mean estimated energy cost - 57.9 MJ)16. Despite the lower energy cost of the high-intensity program, it induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous fat compared with the endurance program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the reduction induced by the high-intensity program was nine-fold greater than the endurance program.

...and (out-of-context disclaimer attached, however - you really should read the whole thing):

The acknowledgment that the activity did not need to be continuous was a major shift from the initial recommendations of the ACSM. It was even stated, "accumulation of physical activity in intermittent, short bouts is considered an appropriate approach to achieving the activity goal". This concept was validated in another study that demonstrated that three 1-minute bouts of maximal intensity exercise, separated by 1-hour recoveries, constituted 74% of the oxygen uptake of 20 minutes of low- to moderate-intensity exercise.

Three minutes gets you 74% of the benefit (in terms of oxygen uptake) of 20 minutes. Yow.

Finally, Fitness Blueprints is my latest blog subscription.

Three Art De Vany posts for today: Sports and Spines, followed by an answer to a readers question, "Is Everything Bad?". The two posts seem tangentially related to an earlier post of his I recall, Sharp Angles.

As a follow-up to my entry on Art De Vany, I have to link to a couple of his posts I particularly enjoyed: Top Ten Reasons Not to Run Marathons and This Body is Not Made for Sports. Lots to agree with in there, although I was puzzled by this bit from his bodybuilding post:

All the problems come down to the same thing; nearly everyone who participates in competitive sports (or glamour contests) is over-trained. I think modern life has enough stress in it and I fail to see why someone would load the stress of over-training on top of it.

I vaguely recall him praising professional basketball players as a fitness ideal. Ah yes, here it is, in Evolutionary Fitness (PDF):

NBA basketball is an example of power law variation. Pro basketball is not an aerobic sport, it actually is an anaerobic sport full of power moves, quick bursts, sprints, and leaps mixed in with half time rest, quarter breaks, pauses, free throws, time outs, and bench time. What NBA players have is the ability to use these brief intervals to quickly recover their phosphate energy stores (they use the alactic pathway discussed below). NBA athletes and NFL defensive backs provide evidence that power law training makes you powerful and lean. NBA players are the leanest and most powerful in any professional sport (their body fat is around 5 to 7 percent).

I suppose those two statements are not contradictory, as I guess NBA athletes can be "the leanest and most powerful in any professional sport" and still be overtrained, but it still struck me.

If you want to do some (r)evolutionary reading on fitness, check out Art De Vany's blog (warning: 447K and growing). Even as a zealous convert to low-duration, high-intensity, varied training, it was (and is) still hard for me to wrap my mind around the possibility of such short workouts being effective. But before excerpting further, let me lead off by noting it's hard to argue with results (from his introduction):

Here are the parameters of my recent physical at the age of 65: blood pressure 111/72; pulse 58. My low density cholesterol (ldl) is 118 (below the recommendation not to exceed 130). My high density cholesterol (hdl, the good cholesterol) is 87, far above the suggested 45 or more. Together, these indicate zero cardiovascular risk. My glucose tolerance is excellent, but it is possible to be glucose tolerant and still be insulin resistant. So, I prefer to test for blood insulin, the lower the better. My blood insulin is almost unmeasurable at 3.4 relative to the ``normal'' range of 6 to 27. Insulin is the aging hormone in all species; my low insulin is one of the many factors that slow my rate of aging.

Based on body composition, strength, flexibility, reaction time, and blood profile, a research institute rated my biological age at 32 a few years ago. I don't take this seriously, but it is consistent with how I feel. My body composition and hormonal profile are not so remarkable when you understand that what we call aging in this modern world really is the accumulated damage of inactivity and dietary abuse. Hunter gatherers don't age like Westerners do because they retain their metabolic fitness.

65. Damn. Granted, he's just one guy and might be a genetic freak of nature rather than a pure product of his health regimen, but still...

The basic premise of De Vany's work is that evolution took three million years to mold us into hunter-gatherers, but that the pace at which we've changed our environment—moving to an agricultural model around 10,000 years ago and an industrial model around 200 years ago— has put our stone age bodies dangerously out of step with the times. The pathway to health lies in emulating hunter-gatherer patterns of long periods of rest punctuated by periods of high-intensity work...

Mechanistic prescriptions fail because they do not present the metabolic challenges and variety of the ancestral environment for which our bodies are designed. If your personal trainer is working you out three days a week, doing three sets of the same exercises, or, worse, 5 or even 6 days a week, find another trainer. Working out 5 or 6 days a week doing many sets of exercises per body part and spending over an hour per workout imposes a chronic load on the body for which it is poorly designed to adapt. You are flooding your body with hormones that consume lean body mass. These hormones also preferentially consume fast twitch muscle, the very substance you are after for strength, lean mass, and vitality. You are draining your adaptive capacity so that you cannot build, or even keep up with the load. Worse still, you are compromising your immune system. Virtually all the body's adaptive mechanisms are designed to deal with acute, not chronic, stresses. Exercise should mimic the activities of our ancestral existence; we are adaptive organisms that thrive on variety, not machines designed for high volume routine.

... and a diet that emphasizes fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats, while eschewing simple carbohydrates (e.g. sugar, pasta).

Homo sapiens is an omnivore; your diet must contain an ample variety of fresh plant foods and lots of amino acids and essential lipids. The only universal characteristic of ancestral and living hunter-gatherer diets is the almost complete absence of grains and simple carbohydrates. There were no simple carbohydrates like sugar and pasta in the evolutionary past. The Ice Ages were times of protein plenty and scarce fat and carbohydrate. Fruits were tough and fibrous, not the refined, sweet stuff we have today. The closest thing to a simple carbohydrate was honey that was rare and guarded by wild bees. There were no grain or cereal sources of carbohy21 drates in the ancestral diet. Hunter-gatherer diets contain an enormous variety of plant foods and are high in protein (the median is about 35 per cent of calories from protein). Human metabolism cannot handle protein levels above 35 per cent over a long term. Cofactors, in the form of fat or carbohydrate, are required in order to utilize protein. So, variety and quality are the key objectives of the Evolutionary Fitness Diet.

This is laid out in more detail in his paper, Evolutionary Fitness (PDF), a thought-provoking read through-and-through, and De Vany is currently expanding into a book. I could excerpt something from every page, but I'll content myself with just one more bit:

We are hunter/gatherers in pin-stripe suits, living a sedentary life and it is killing us in ways our ancestors never experienced. Virtually all the degenerative diseases-atherosclerosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, declining muscle mass-of modern civilization are unheard of among hunter-gatherers and were not part of our ancestral experience. Most modern fitness prescriptions are static and agricultural. These programs model the body as a machine, not as an adaptive organism.

Anyone who's been following my fledgling site knows I'm very happy with the results I've seen from ditching longer cardio work in favor of shorter, more intense workouts. So of course I was thrilled to discover De Vany's ideas support this model. Having read The Stone Age Present 10 years ago or so probably made me particularly receptive. And evolution and fitness are two favorite topics of mine. A good fit all around.