(The mistress in the basement)
The relationship between fasting and strength seems to be an issue that has been coming up a lot in the comments on this blog.
So here’s something to think about:
I’ve been following Eat Stop Eat for over three years.
I am significantly stronger than a lot of on-line fitness personalities who do not fast.
And, there are on-line fitness personalities who don’t fast who are also significantly stronger than me.
So really, comparing me to other people (or vice-versa) is pretty pointless….
(Just like how comparing yourself to anyone on-line is pointless)
But here’s something very important to consider: I’m significantly stronger now than I was three years ago.
In other words, I’ve become stronger while fasting once or twice a week for the last three years.
Did fasting make me stronger? I highly doubt it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I owe any strength gains I’ve received in that last little while to […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Having barely recovered from the last bout a few weeks ago, I sensed a new war brewing on the horizon. This time the enemy would prove to be a formidable opponent. Facing powerful magic from the gods, I had to employ a new strategy to overcome it. Brute force was not an option. Wits and cunning was the name of the game.
After having warmed up properly, the cheesecake arrived. It appeared fairly modest and unintimidating at first. Similar in size to my first opponent and lacking the whipped cream-carapace of my second opponent. Surely this would be an easy match for my carefully honed skills. Or so I foolishly thought…
Suddenly the goddess Athena appeared out of nowhere and cast a powerful magic spell on the wretched cake!

Upon taking the first bite I sensed that this was going to be no easy battle. The spell had imbibed the cheesecake with supernaturally […]

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

Yesterday, I made a case for the necessity of good hip mobility in, well, everyone. Athletes will get faster, stronger, and more powerful. Lifters will be able to lift more weight and squat heavier without rounding the lower back. Regular folks will spare their lower back from the stress of chronic sitting and bending over to pick things up. Extensive hip mobility will improve your love life (seriously, think about it – hip thrust, range of motion!), your deadlift, your Grok squat, and your posture. If you own a set of hips, the ability to traverse their full range of motion will improve your life in many ways. They are the fulcrum upon which most activity depends. Treat them well, keep them well lubed and tuned up, and you will reap the benefits and reduce your chance of injury. That much is pretty clear by now.
So, how do you do […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

[Milk > Steroids]
 
The American Heart Association has found that long term anabolic steroid use is even WORSE for the heart than previously thought, according to a study quoted this article.
Here are some quotes from the article with my comments:
“In the small study, investigators found that the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, was significantly weaker during contraction (systolic function) in participants who had taken steroids compared to a group of similar non-steroid users.”
My Comments: Alright, so the heart’s main pumping chamber was weaker among steroid users. That sounds bad.
“A healthy left ventricle pumps out 55 percent to 70 percent of the blood that fills the heart (a measurement known as ejection fraction). Eighty-three percent of steroid users in the 12-person study had a low pumping capacity (ejection fraction less than 55 percent) that previous studies have linked to increased risk of […]

Original post by rafael@thefitnessadviser.com (Rafi Bar-Lev)

People are exceedingly mobile these days. We can jet halfway across the world at a moment’s notice, check email on our phones, hop in the car and be in another state in five hours, conduct business from anywhere, transfer schools, and shave while reading the paper on the morning commute. Social mobility, financial mobility, spatial mobility, information mobility. Mobile workforce, mobile phone, Google Mobile. Yeah, clearly, mobility is highly prized.
What about joint mobility?
Too many people discount, or even outright ignore, this crucial aspect of physical fitness. Raw strength, speed, and stamina are all important, especially to athletes or weekend warriors, but everyone of any age or fitness level needs the ability to move their limbs and joints through their full range of motion as ordained by nature. That goes for grandmothers, teens, and couch potatoes alike. Though not everyone will be picking up barbells or running sprints or long jumping, […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

KnuckleUp at the Flying Pirate Half Marathon

The Flying Pirate Half Marathon ran Sunday April, 18th, and some of our members were in it! Of the 1,500 runners who participated this year, 18 were members of the KnuckleUp Beach Boot Camp. These are 1,500 of some of the toughest competitors from the Mid-Atlantic, and our people were able to hold their own. Congratulations!
The Flying Pirate Half Marathon is the first half of the Outer Banks Marathon which will be held this November. It is approximately 21 km and is part of a series of marathons. It started in Kitty Hawk and ended in Nags Head, where there was a celebratory party and award ceremony behind Wings.
Leading the KnuckleUp crew was Coach Matt Costa with a finish time of 1hr and 46min, followed closely by Allison Saunders-Broughton, the wife of Matt Broughton, owner of Cosmo’s Pizza in Corolla. Allison placed 4th […]

Original post by knuckleup

Although for many of us starting a family simply happens (surprise!), others among us take an intentional approach. Maybe we delay having children for professional, financial or relationship reasons. Maybe we begin trying when we’re young. Regardless of timing, facing our fertility (so to speak) is an intensely personal and often emotional passage. It can inspire joy and wonder in our basic human capacities – our deep-seated physical impulse and emotional expansion toward parenthood. For some of us, however, the journey takes on anxiety and disappointment. Although varied and nuanced factors define our reproductive health (some not fully understood even today in the medical community), experts agree that lifestyle factors contribute to overall fertility.

I get emails from time to time on the fertility question, and I appreciate these readers’ stories and interest. The growing science of nutrigenomics, the study of how diet influences gene expression patterns, will undoubtedly offer more […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

New interview at Elitefts.com.

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Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

Last week, I discussed the importance of gut flora in the digestion of food while briefly touching on its role in early immunity, including the development of asthma and eczema – both of which are immune issues that appear to be exacerbated or caused by disrupted gut flora in children. But it goes much further than “just” asthma and eczema. Our gut flora plays a massive role in mediating our entire immune response. Think about this little factoid: the human gastro-intestinal tract houses the bulk of the human immune system, about 70% of it. And foreign gut flora actually aids and abets our innate immune response system by improving the function of our mucosal immune system and providing a physical barrier to invading microbiota. Before I get into that, though, let’s go over what we mean by immune system.

Some time back, I wrote a post discussing the three tiers of […]

Original post by Mark Sisson