In accepting the results of research one always has to closely examine the experimental procedure, the subjects, the controls, the existence or absence of double-blind studies, the goals and prejudices of the specific researchers, the size and duration of the study, the statistical techniques and analysis of the results, and comparison with studies in the same or related fields. The realm of fitness and strength training is especially rife with limited and highly specific studies that are applied far too generally by workers or instructors who see nothing wrong in extrapolating findings to methods with very tenuous links to the original research.

Thus, over a 10 week period, ‘untrained’ subjects using a resistance training routine with free weights may be compared with another group of ‘untrained’ subjects following another routine with variable resistance machines. Changes in strength and muscle endurance may then be measured on an isokinetic dynamometer to conclude that machine training on machine X produces superior gains in endurance to free weight training, but no significant change in strength. This information is presented at some conference or published in a journal, to be intercepted by some instructor who uses it to justify that his machine training program in a circuit gym is superior to any free weight training.

Little does he realise that the experimental findings, even if correct, cannot be extended across such a broad base. Most likely he does not appreciate that the experiment is faulty in some respects. For example, training is so specific that isokinetic testing cannot be used to assess functional changes in strength and endurance; training programs of a few weeks’ duration more likely produce neuromuscular than hypertrophic changes; closed chain weights exercise in several planes cannot accurately be compared with open chain machine exercise in one plane; there is not one form of strength or muscle endurance; most isokinetic devices do not measure changes in eccentric or explosive strength.

If so much doubt may be cast on laboratory experiments, does this mean that they should be ignored? Certainly not, because meticulously designed experiments can be of enormous benefit to the furtherance of knowledge. It is just vital that one carefully examines all research findings before religiously quoting or applying them, especially in the light of the most extensive practical experience in the same fields.

If we wish to assess the validity of research into local spot reduction, we must simultaneously examine the experience of the most competent practitioners. In body shaping and conditioning, we are fortunate that bodybuilding and weightlifting have provided an enormous base of experiential findings with which to evaluate research. For example, all bodybuilding competitors carry out a concentrated phase of training for definition or ‘cuts’ for several weeks before contests. Not only do they measure their food intake very carefully, but they concentrate on certain body regions to ‘get ripped’ in those deficient areas which appear to carry a little too much fat. What do they do? They do set upon set of high repetition medium resistance training which targets the offending areas. One can find their ‘ripping’ or ‘cutting’ programs in every bodybuilding magazine or book and physiques of their authors, usually prominent bodybuilders, certainly show that their programmes do work.

In other words, bodybuilders rely on training regimes both to enhance muscle mass and to increase definition (i.e. to spot reduce!), but research indicates otherwise. Is this possible? Isn’t the difference in results between bodybuilders and ordinary gym clients who try spot reduction routines due to the restricted dieting of the former. Not necessarily, because the average client may be on an even more meagre diet. The difference may lie in the fact that bodybuilders do not simply execute unweighted sit-ups for defining the abdominals, but do them with much more concentrated effort to failure, plus other resisted routines using supersetting, forced reps, negatives and other techniques to ensure that sufficient metabolic demands are placed on the working muscles. On top of that, the bodybuilders use progressively planned programmes with each phase aimed to produce a different result, such as hypertrophy, definition and strength.

It would be interesting to undertake further research using the very demanding definition routines of serious bodybuilders to ascertain if spot reduction really works to some extent or not. The experiential observation remains that bodybuilders may have developed routines that may cause some local decrease in bodyfat, though this surely would be far less than is implied by those marketing all of those futile “fast fix” abdominal exercising devices.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

It is even most important to appreciate that one does not wish simply to lose weight, but excess body fat.

Some individuals are obese, others are just carrying excess body fat relative to the average person of similar physique and age in their particular population group.
Losing excess body fat or adipose tissue still fails to describe the situation accurately. Percentage body fat is measured by means of underwater weighing or mathematical computations based on measurements of skinfold thicknesses taken at different body sites. Anthropomorphic (body shape/ measurement) studies rely heavily on such techniques, and many health centres place great emphasis on clients reaching desirable percentages of bodyfat.

This is most impressive to the layperson, but often of little value to the latter. Many clients reach the target bodyfat percentage, but their overall shape is still aesthetically unpleasing. The woman who reaches her goal often finds that her thighs have slimmed somewhat, but her formely attractive bust is severely deflated. The cardiac patient who lowers his percentage bodyfat does not necessarily reduce the concentration of fat in the circulatory system. For the average plump person, it is more meaningful to keep a record of the following measurements:
• circumference of chest, waist and hips
• skinfold thicknesses at the usual body sites
• skinfold thicknesses of the upper and lower segments of legs and arms, together with the corresponding circumference at the same levels
• percentage overall bodyfat

This method enables one to monitor if the loss of body mass is due to loss of fat or muscle, if excess fat is being lost in the desired regions, the extent to which one’s overall proportions are changing, and any changes in muscle mass. Losing mass is easy: one just needs to stay in bed for a prolonged period or live on a highly restricted diet. Unfortunately, the loss in these cases is due to loss of body protein in the form of muscle tissue. One can even ’sweat it off’ by wearing plastic training suits, but this temporary and highly inadvisable loss is due to general dehydration achieved by perspiration of body fluids, and is replaced within hours of normal drinking and eating. What is far more difficult is the loss of excess bodyfat in precisely the areas desired.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

Now it has become a very big item in the West, with pharmaceutical companies making a fortune off it, since every second athlete in any sport is using it now. Its most popular form is creatine monohydrate, with numerous firms and individuals selling it via retail outlets and via the Internet. The claims being made for creatine as a valuable ergogenic aid and as a potentially dangerous supplement, especially regarding alleged dehydration and heatstroke, now abound.

It is a perfectly natural substance, found in animal flesh in large quantities and being related to the ATP and Creatine Phosphate which form part of the mammalian energy system. Creatine is used in muscle cells to store energy for sprinting and explosive exercise and athletes apparently can increase the amount of creatine in muscle by taking creatine supplements, such as creatine monohydrate. The detractors of creatine believe that, it is not is not a harmful substance when eaten as a component of food, but becomes potentially dangerous when taken in quantities that are equal to eating several kilograms of steak a day.

What is the truth about creatine supplementation? Is it a genuinely effective ergogenic aid in sport or is it a potentially dangerous, useless and expensive waste of money?

Literature reviews covering several hundred articles reveal the following findings, as extensively discussed by Dr R B Kreider on the following websites:

http://www.css.edu/users/tboone2/asep/jan3.htm

http://www.sportsci.org/traintech/creatine/rbk.html

Dr Kreider noted these main findings:

1. Short-term creatine supplementation can improve maximal strength/power by 5-15%, work performed during sets of maximal effort muscle contractions by 5-15%, single-effort sprint performance by 1-5%, and work performed during repetitive sprint performance by 5-15%. These effects seem to be related to the extent of uptake of creatine into muscle.

2. Long-term supplementation of creatine supplements (15-25 gm per day for 5-7 days and 2-25 gm per day thereafter for 7-84 days) promotes significantly greater gains in strength, sprint performance, and fat free mass during training in comparison to controls subjects.

3. Creatine supplementation for 1-2 months during training has been reported to promote further gains in sprint performance (5-8%), plus gains in strength (5-15%) and lean body mass (1-3%).

4. Some studies report no ergogenic benefit, possibly due to individual differences in response to creatine supplementation, the duration of supplementation, exercise criterion evaluated, and the amount of recovery observed during repeated bouts of exercise.

5. The only side effect reported in the scientific literature from creatine supplementation has been weight gain.

6. Creatine supplementation appears to be a safe and effective nutritional strategy to enhance exercise performance when taken at dosages described in the literature.

7. Anecdotal reports from some coaches suggest that creatine supplementation may increase the incidence of muscle strains, but no such finding has been reported in the literature, even though many studies have evaluated top level athletes during heavy training periods.

8. While long-term controlled clinical trials lasting for more than a year have been performed, athletes have been using creatine as a supplement for over 10 years without any significant medical complications having been directly linked to creatine supplementation.

9. Cramping experienced by athletes training in the heat is related to muscular fatigue and dehydration and is not related to creatine supplementation. Nevertheless, athletes taking creatine while training in hot and humid environments should be aware of this possible side effect and take precautions to prevent dehydration.

10. More research is needed into individual responses to creatine, periodic or cyclical use of creatine, possible side-effects, and long-term effects on endurance. Specific issues warranting attention are metabolic changes in the body; the therapeutic value and safety of creatine supplementation; the effects of creatine supplementation on training volume, intensity and performance in different sporting events; and the validity of reports of increased incidence of muscle cramping and musculoskeletal injuries in athletes.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

The improvements in performance may be due to any of the following physiological effects:

• increase in bodymass
• increase in muscle size (hypertrophy)
• enhancement of recuperation
• treatment of injuries
• increase in nerve size and number
• increase in competitive aggression
• increase in muscle strength
• decrease of catabolism
• increase in blood volume
• increase in number of red blood cells
• increase in volume of red blood cells
• increase of haemoglobin, myoglobin

What are the dangers of steroid use ?

The following table (continued overleaf) summarises information obtained from research and from the information sheets provided by drug manufacturers with their packages of anabolic steroids. It does not imply that everyone using steroids will suffer from these side-effects, but it emphasizes that the regular user is always exposed to these possible risks.

• altered liver function
• increase in tendon injury
• androgenic changes (esp. in women)
• leukaemia
• acne and skin disorders
• gastrointestinal disturbance
• muscle cramp and spasm
• headaches, faintness, nausea
• insomnia
• suppression of other hormonal systems
• disrupted immune response
• increased blood pressure
• premature bone epiphysis closing in children
• altered sleep patterns
• reverse anorexia
• psychological addiction
• altered sexual function
• altered reproductive function
• altered thyroid function
• prostate and liver cancer
• gynaecomastia (female breasts in male)
• haemorrhaging (incl. nosebleeding)
• raised cholesterol levels (esp. LDL)
• hair loss
• aggression and mood swings
• kidney tumours
• tiredness and lethargy
• physical dependence

The occurrence of side-effects increases with dosage and duration of drugs, and is highly individual. Unfortunately, there is no way of accurately identifying who is at increased risk or when the risk is becoming critical. The best way of minimising the possibility of serious consequences is to have regular medical checkups, with thorough urine and blood analysis. The user should constantly be on the lookout for signs of the above side-effects.

Awareness of the possible hazards is no real deterrent to steroid use, since a survey carried out some years ago showed that over 70 percent of sportsmen would take a new drug that would guarantee them Olympic success even if they knew that they would die a year later.

It is preferable to point out to users that there are two side-effects that can afflict everyone: apparently increased incidence of injury to the tendons and other connective tissue in the body (such as the muscle sheaths or fasciae), and ‘reverse anorexia’, coupled with psychological dependence. It appears as if steroid use tends to promote a greater or faster increase in muscle, but not tendon, strength, so that tendon and connective tissue ruptures are far more frequent among steroid users, unless training programs adjust for this possibility.

Inverse anorexia refers to the condition where one is obsessed with gaining or maintaining bodymass. It appears as if numerous bodybuilders and lifters become severely depressed if they cannot permanently maintain their size, muscularity and strength. As soon as they stop taking steroids, these physical qualities gradually begin to fade, so that the addicted user has no alternative but to take booster doses of steroids for the rest of his life, even if he is not competing. He has grown accustomed to a certain physique and cannot live contentedly if it deteriorates.

Thus, it is vital to ask anyone who is contemplating using steroids one question: ‘Will you be able to live with a far less impressive physique and strength when you give up steroids ?’

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

All the derivatives have been manufactured from testosterone by manipulating its chemical structure to increase its anabolic effects and decrease its androgenic effects. Derivatives became necessary because pure testosterone taken by mouth is too rapidly broken down by the liver to be effective except in very large doses. This has produced Dianabol, Winstrol, Durabolin, Anavar, Primobolan, Oranabol and many other similar substances whose names can be recited by the average serious bodybuilder like a chef can quote recipes.

‘Anabolic’ steroids were originally intended to help severely debilitated patients regain muscle tissue after serious burns, long periods of bed rest, starvation, loss of appetite or general physical wasting. This debilitation is often assessed by measuring the amount of nitrogen lost from the body in the urine, Thus, if one is in positive nitrogen balance, it means that your body is absorbing nitrogen or protein. If you have a negative nitrogen balance, you are not depositing sufficient protein in your body and you are inevitably going to lose muscle mass.

The nitrogen balance of your body depends largely on the levels of hormones in the body, including testosterone, androstenedione and insulin. Thus, if you take sufficient quantities of appropriate extra anabolic steroids by mouth or injection, you may gain muscle mass and strength, provided you stress the body with adequate heavy exercise and eat enough protein and carbohydrates.

The trouble is that the extra steroids may upset the intricate balance between all the other hormones in the body and cause side effects ranging from acne, decrease in testicle size, hair loss and increased aggression to sterility, leukaemia and cancer of the liver or prostate gland. The medical use of anabolic agents, as with all drugs, involves taking a calculated risk of balancing the advantages and disadvantages against one another.

What steroid users often forget is that the effect of these drugs is highly individual, so that one person might use large doses safely for many years, without suffering apparent harm, while another might develop cancer. Similarly, a particular steroid may be very effective for one athlete, but useless for another. Furthermore, the same steroid taken for long periods, may lose its effectiveness, unless dosage is increased to possibly hazardous levels.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

Firstly, the calorific or energy values of food often are determined by special chemical process called proximate analysis or by burning given quantities of each food in a bomb calorimeter, a type of scientific furnace which measures the amount of heat produced in each case. Here it is assumed that a laboratory process or high temperature combustion of a given food produces exactly the same amount of heat as low temperature combustion in a living organism. It is also assumed that all the components of the food (including indigestible fractions such as roughage) are completely metabolised in the body (or ignored, according to proximate analysis estimations) and that the combustibility of the food does not vary with source and quality (even though the combustibility of coal varies with type and source).

It has been found that the calorific value of a particular food component (e.g. a certain fat, amino acid or carbohydrate) varies with the foods which contain it and with the mixture ingested at a given time. Moreover, certain food components may become indigestible in the cooking process or may not be fully digested because of the size of the portions swallowed or because of the interaction of the foodstuffs or digestive enzymes involved. For instance, sugar dissolved in water (as in soft drinks) provides more energy and produces more bodyfat gain than sugar eaten in solid form.

Thus, at the level of the fuel supplied to the body, we note that major inaccuracies of computation can occur. At the level of the biological ‘furnace’, each person’s biochemical individuality determines how efficiently a given food will be digested, stored or used as a fuel for muscular activity. Studies with twins on exactly the same exercise program and diets have shown that the amount of weight loss or gain differs with the individual. Other studies on volunteers using reduced food intakes of several hundred calories have shown little or no weight loss whatsoever, a fact which has been known from bitter experience to many overweight dieters.

It is clear that any system of calorie counting based on food burning computations is scientifically and practically misleading. Even if the calculations are now done by special computer nutritional programs which are used by nutritional specialists and exercise scientists, they cannot be called scientific or accurate. Similar computations to determine protein, fat or mineral utilisation are also misleading, unless they are augmented by urine, blood and tissue analyses. Don’t be misled by impressive-looking computer programs and nutritional printouts which do more for your nutritionist’s bank balance than your energy balance!

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

The successful introduction of elastic bands into a fitness class depends on understanding the basic principle underlying elastic resistance, namely Hooke’s Law.    This law states that the tension (F) in the elastic being stretched is directly proportional to the extension (X), or F = k.X, where k is the mechanical stiffness of the material.

In other words, the further you stretch the elastic band, the greater the resulting tension.   Thus, you can determine the level of resistance simply by controlling how far you stretch the elastic.  The problem here is that the highest levels of resistance are reached when the elastic is stretched as close as possible to its elastic limit, in a range where your muscles cannot exert maximal force.  Some ways of overcoming this to some extent involve moving the usually fixed end of the elastic as well as the end you usually move, or by shifting the body to change leverages or tension in the elastic, thereby allowing the joint to operate more efficiently throughout its anatomical range.

Another way of improving the situation is to attach an arm (or leg) weight with the usual ‘Velcro’ strap to the extremity being exercised and carry out the relevant exercise so as to oppose the weight and elastic band simultaneously.  Of course, for far more challenging training, one can attach elastic bands between bars and a suitable fixation point situated at different heights (e.g. using a power rack) to allow you to exercise simultaneously against weights (inertial training) and elastic resistance.

The effectiveness of this type of exercise may be enhanced considerably by working against the elastic resistance using the principles, procedures, and various spiral and diagonal patterns of  the physiotherapy discipline of PNF.  The theory and practice of the exercise-specific PNF  techniques are summarised later in this text.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

While this may be true under certain circumstances, it is not generally true, since  high impact exercise is not the only way of producing large forces in the muscles and other components of the musculoskeletal system.   For instance, prolonged stretching using even moderate static force can cause plastic deformation of the ligaments, muscle fasciae or other connective tissues.

What needs to be appreciated is that injury to the body is not necessarily caused by large external forces.   The magnitude and direction of the stresses and strains produced at a joint by the force are more important than the magnitude of the force alone.  Moreover, some tissues can dissipate energy more efficiently than others.  Many of the body’s soft tissues, such as most tendons and ligaments, are viscoelastic.  This means that under low rates of loading, they behave by flowing slowly like any other viscous substance, whereas, at high rates of loading, they behave like an elastic band.

A relatively small force exerted at a large distance from a joint can produce a very large moment or torque at the joint (remember that Torque equals force times perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the turning point).  Thus,  straight-arm flyes and straight-leg deadlifts in the gym, and high kicks, extended floor-travelling moves and long stretching movements in the aerobics class can produce excessively large torque on vulnerable joints.

Even very small forces repeated to the point of local muscle exhaustion, as in ‘Callanetics’, may result in soft tissue damage, particularly if local blood supply, efficiency of protective reflexes and neuromuscular coordination are impaired.

You may even injure yourself by executing low impact movements before you have warmed up adequately or not learned the appropriate skills for carrying out each manoeuvre correctly and safely.  Remember that there is no such thing as an unsafe exercise; only an unsafe way of carrying out an exercise.

Reliance on low impact as the sole form of training may even be counterproductive if your daily life subjects  you to activities that may produce stresses and strains in a variety of directions which  your training has not prepared you to handle.   For example, if you religiously avoid squatting, flexing the lumbar spine, rotating your head through full circles, lifting loads off the ground, jumping or raising loads above your head, then you might injure yourself while doing similar movements in your garden, kitchen, office or bathroom, or while playing with your children.

The important role played by the inclusion of a certain amount of regular impulsive loading in strengthening the musculoskeletal system and minimising the occurrence of joint deterioration has already been discussed and is entirely relevant to this topic (see Ch5 under the heading “All impact loading training should be avoided”).

Sensible physical conditioning means exercising the body and mind to enable to cope not only with your daily aerobics session, but also with the far greater demands of daily living.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

This categorisation has led to the difficulty the layperson has in understanding that sprinting is not an aerobic event, even though the sprinter is obviously breathing oxygen very heavily throughout the race.   All too often does one hear the comment that a sprinter does not breathe at all during a race.  This is untrue and misleading.  Sprints are ‘anaerobic’ because the inhaled oxygen is unable to be used immediately and directly during the sprint to metabolise stored fuels in the body.

Moreover, it needs to be pointed out that cellular oxidation by direct reliance on molecular oxygen occurs only at the end of a series of specific metabolic processes which remove hydrogen atoms in successive stages from the energy-producing substances derived from our food.

Today, the terms ‘aerobic’ and ‘anaerobic’ are regarded by the scientific community as archaic and somewhat inaccurate, and are often replaced by ‘oxygen-dependent’ (oxidative) and ‘oxygen-independent’ (non-oxidative), respectively.  This change in terminology recognises the fact that oxidation does not refer only to the gain of oxygen by certain substances or compounds.  Oxidation also occurs in a reaction in which hydrogen atoms are removed from a compound, a process which continually takes place in the human body.   The acquisition of oxygen atoms or the loss of hydrogen atoms are both characterised by the oxidised substance losing negatively charged entities known as electrons.  Thus, oxidation refers to any reaction whereby a chemical compound loses electrons.

The current Western craze of ‘aerobics’ drew its name  from Kenneth Cooper’s early book entitled Aerobics, largely to emphasize the fact that this form of exercise was intended to enhance cardiovascular endurance.   Today, the term ‘aerobics’ is applied loosely to all forms of exercise done to music in the health club environment, including ’stretch-and-tone’, which place no meaningful stress on the ‘aerobic’ (oxygen dependent) system.

True ‘aerobic’ exercise involves predominantly the long-term energy system (or pathway), which requires the continuous use of oxygen for the oxidation of glycogen (stored in the muscles and liver) or fatty acids (from stored body fats).    When the exercise intensity increases, the two ‘anaerobic’ energy systems furnish the necessary energy: the short-duration system (high energy phosphate or ATP-CP system), and the intermediate energy system.

The short-term system used to be referred to as the ‘alactic anaerobic energy’ system.  Its preferred name today is the phosphagen or high energy phosphate system.  The intermediate system used to be known as the lactic acid (LA) system or  the ‘lactic anaerobic’ (or anaerobic glycolytic) system.  Now, the more accepted term is the oxygen-independent (or non-oxidative) glycolytic system.

What distinguishes these two systems from the ‘aerobic’ system is the fact that the higher intensity of muscular effort involved in both cases severely limits their duration.  Thus, if one becomes breathless or the muscles are unable to continue operating without rest in a fitness class, it is a clear indication that the exercise is not ‘aerobic’.   This should become most obvious to the aerobics instructor, who constantly has to talk to the class and give ongoing commands.  If she cannot maintain a normal instructional conversation with her clients, she is no longer working in the ‘aerobic zone’.  She will find that her pulse rate is beginning to fall beyond the recommended cardiovascular training heart rate.

This occurs at a point known formely as the anaerobic threshold.  The more popular term now is the blood lactate turnpoint (or threshold) or OBLA (Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation), since this marks the stage when the rate of lactate accumulation begins to exceed its rate of removal.  Although this greater attention to scientific accuracy would appear to place ‘aerobic’ processes and cardiovascular training on a sounder footing, it should not obscure the fact that each energy system or pathway is simultaneously involved in all exercise.  The degree to which any particular system predominates over a given period is determined primarily by the intensity of the muscle action involved.

Even then, one has to recognise that different energy pathways are involved at the same instant to sustain tonic (postural, stabilising) muscle action and phasic (dynamic) muscle action of different durations.  Stated in another way, different energy pathways may be implicated at a systemic level and a local muscular level.   In this respect, it is important to appreciate that all human movement involves muscle actions which simultaneously stabilise and move the muscles and joints, so that the body may rely on cardiovascular (oxygen-dependent) processes for its prolonged overall movement in a particular event, while the postural muscles may periodically draw upon oxygen-independent processes.

Thus, systemically, oxidative processes might be dominant, whereas locally, non-oxidative processes might also be highly active.  It is incorrect to state that only one energy system or pathway is active during a specific activity.  For example,  marathon races between equally-matched elite performers may be won by the athlete who can make the most efficient use of oxygen-independent processes during crucial phases such as hill-climbing or concluding bursts of speed.

This emphasizes that successful physical conditioning for all sports depends on a good understanding of the energy processes of the body and how various dedicated or ‘cross-training’ exercise regimes contribute to developing the appropriate fitness profile required for each specific sport.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

He even considers that certain foods to be especially dangerous, “.. especially lentils and kidney beans, contain lectins that deposit in your muscle tissues, making them more alkaline and less charged for physical activity.”  Yet, he has never published any micrographic photographs showing changes in muscle tissue biopsied from people with different blood types after they have eaten kidney beans or lentils.

An extensive and highly informative critique by Dr Klaper on the “Eat Right” theories appears in the following web article:

http://www.earthsave.org/news/bloodtyp.htm

He comments as follows: “What is so bad about little clumps of red blood cells sailing through the bloodstream? Red blood cells deliver oxygen to the cells of vital tissues like the brain, heart and kidneys. To accomplish this delivery, they must  flow through the tiniest of blood vessels – capillaries so narrow that the red blood cells must line up single file to get through. If the red cells are being agglutinated by lectins or anything else, clumps of red cells will clog up the capillaries and block the blood flow. Thus, the blood stream will be prevented from delivering its  life-sustaining cargo of oxygen to the tissues served by those capillaries. Cells deprived of oxygen become  damaged, and eventually die (cell death is called “infarction” of tissue.)

If the capillary beds in your heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes, and other essential organs are subjected to barrage after barrage of agglutinated red cells, they will eventually begin to clog up. These micro-areas of diminished blood flow would at first cause scattered, then more concentrated areas of tissue damage – with eventually many micro-infarctions scattered throughout these vital structures. The brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and adrenals would soon be irreparably damaged by these processes, resulting in potentially fatal outcomes in millions of people.  No pathology publication has ever mentioned tissue infarction from lectin-induced red cell agglutination as a cause of any disease in humans.”

Dr Klaper points out further that “there is nothing sacrosanct about the ABO blood typing system devised by Dr Landsteiner in the 1920s.  It is only one system classifying more than thirty proteins on the surface of cells that determine  other blood groups, with names like Auberger, Diego, Duffy, Kell, Kidd, Lewis, Lutheran, MNSs, P, Rh,  Sutter, and Xg. This means that food selections that may be “right” for the ABO blood group system might  be “dead wrong” for someone’s Kell or idd antigens. Why are we deifying the D-galactosamine-fructose molecules on the red cell surfaces that determine ABO Type?”

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

His theory is that one’s blood type determines one’s susceptibility to diseases and ability to process specific foods.  He even maintains that blood type determines one’s personality!   How on earth then do twins or triplets (etc.) with the same blood type and many other things the same have such different illnesses, strengths, weaknesses and personalities?

For example, in his book, Eat Right for Your Type (1996), he declares that Type A personalities are “…poorly suited for the intense, high-pressured leadership positions at which Type O’s excel,” and proclaims that, under pressure, people with Type A blood “tend to unravel” and “become anxious and paranoid, taking everything personally.” He concludes that this group is characterised by the dark image of Adolph Hitler, “…a mutated Type A personality.”
The huge body of references which he has assembled on the relationship between nutrition, disease and healing is well known to naturopaths, Anthroposophists, Ayurvedic medicine practitioners and many others in the alternative healing arts, but he has provided no evidence whatsoever to link blood type and optimal diet.  That is an entirely different matter.  His website gives some insight into the beliefs associated with this theory:

http://www.dadamo.com/index.htm

His basic thesis is that Type Os are the dominant, hunter-caveman type that require meat in the diet, that Type As are placid vegetarians, and Type Bs are dairy-eating omnivores.  Here is a short list of D’Adamo’s claims, followed by a website that evaluates these them:

Blood Types and Disease Claims

1.  Type A’s are predisposed to heart disease, cancer and diabetes

2.  Type O are the most likely to suffer from asthma, hay fever, and other allergies

3.  Type B are especially susceptible to autoimmune disorders, such as chronic fatigue, lupus and multiple sclerosis.  They have a high allergy threshold, and will react allergically only if they eat the wrong foods

4.  Type AB are predisposed to heart disease, cancer, and anemia, but tend to have the fewest problems with allergies

Blood Types and Exercise Claims

D’Adamo also claims that blood types determine one’s success in specific sports, even though not as single scientific reference has shown any statistical relationship between Olympians in different sports and blood type.  These are his beliefs in this regard:

•  Type O do best on intense physical exercise, including aerobics, martial arts, contact sports, and running.

•  Type A should take part in calming, centering exercise, such as yoga, tai chi and golf.  (Has he ever spoken to top golfers who will emphasize how very stressful golf can be?)

•  Type B excel in with moderate physical exercise requiring mental balance, such as hiking, walking, cycling, tennis, and swimming.   (Someone please tell him that competitive cycling, tennis and swimming are anything but moderate!)

•  Type AB is regarded by D’Adamo as an amalgam of types A and B, “the most biologically complex” group (as if research has shown any one blood type to be less complex than others!). For this group, he recommends a combination of the exercises for types A and B.

See more in Part II of this article

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

They feel that the public should know that a review of current research reveals that cholesterol is the weakest of all the significant risk factors.   In a similar vein, the American Council on Science and Health issued a report stating that the public is being misled about cholesterol.  Its president, Dr Elizabeth Whelan, who is also a member of the panel examining the issue of cardiac disease, said that “there is no need to alarm the entire population about cholesterol”.

Dr de Bakey added that, even although large intake of dietary cholesterol can certainly elevate  the level of blood cholesterol,  “nobody knows the specific, precise agent that causes heart disease”.  He warned that “cholesterol tests are notoriously inaccurate” and heart disease can occur in numerous individuals who exhibit none of the classic risk factors.

The panel stressed that a more balanced view of the connection between diet and cardiac disease had to be presented, especially as the role of cholesterol in the chain of events is more complex than is generally appreciated.  Cholesterol is a component of all body cells and is manufactured by the liver, so that even if no cholesterol-rich foods are ingested, the body still has the ability to create endogenous cholesterol.  High blood cholesterol levels are more strongly associated with genetic factors than any other risk factors currently identified.  Foods containing saturated fats are rich in cholesterol and do elevate blood cholesterol, but the mechanism whereby cholesterol deposits itself on artery walls is not yet known.

The panel said that cessation of smoking, lowering of blood pressure and reduction of total calories via the eating of a nutritionally balanced diet with a variety of foods are the most effective ways of reducing the risk of heart disease.   They criticised the extreme focus placed on cholesterol, since this standpoint had diminished public awareness of smoking and high blood pressure as major risk factors.

They also considered the benefits of cholesterol-lowering drugs to be overstated and questioned the wisdom of lowering blood cholesterol in women because pre-menopausal women are less likely to have heart attacks than men.  Another researcher, Dr J M Price, in his book Coronaries, Cholesterol, Chlorine has presented evidence supporting the view that chlorine in drinking water may be a major factor associated with the formation of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which results in heart attacks.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

1.  A momentum phase during which the body or part of the body is moving because of kinetic energy it has accumulated from a preceding action (e.g. dropping from a height).

2. A contact instant or termination of momentum instant when some event such as contact with a surface prevents the body or part of the body from moving further.

3.  An amortisation phase when the kinetic energy produces a powerful stretch reflex which leads to eccentric muscle contraction accompanied by explosive isometric contraction  and stretching of the tendons and other connective tissues in the muscle complex.

4.  A rebound phase involving the release of elastic energy from the tendons (and other connective tissues), together with the involuntary concentric muscle contraction evoked by the stretch reflex.  This phase may include a contribution added by voluntary concentric contraction.

A distinction should be made between maximal plyometrics and sub-maximal plyometrics.  Maximal plyometrics are low-repetition activities where the intensity of the depth jump or rebound exercise is such that maximal or near-maximal rebound tension is produced in the relevant muscles.  Just like maximal strength training with weights, these powerful impulses are not meant to be imposed on the musculature every workout, nor are multiple repetitions even possible or advisable.

Moreover, a rest interval of 2-4 minutes is recommended between successive repetitions.  Sub-maximal plyometrics involve mechanical impulses which do not produce maximal muscular tension, although they are still performed with a very brief contact phase with the floor or projected object.  For example, lower box heights are used for depth jumps and the athlete does not strive to reach maximal rebound height. Rapid double-footed bouncing or low skipping on the spot are other typical sub-maximal exercises.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

The plyometric method is characterised by impulsive action of minimal duration between the end of the eccentric braking phase and initiation of the concentric acceleration phase.  It relies on the production of a very brief explosive-isometric and eccentric-isometric phase which precedes the release of the elastic energy stored in the tendons and other connective tissues of the series elastic component of the muscle complex during the eccentric deceleration phase.  If the transition phase is prolonged by more than about 0.2 second, the action constitutes ordinary jumping and not classical plyometrics.  A useful visualisation is to imagine that the surface being touched by the hands or the feet during the plyometric contact phase is red hot, so that any prolonged contact would be dangerous.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

To understand what plyometrics really is, one needs to consult the person who pioneered modern plyometrics and revolutionised sports training with it.  His name is Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky, formely  of the State Central Institute of Sports Science in Moscow and he pioneered this method of training more than 30 years ago to improve the speed-strength capabilities of Soviet athletes.  He called this his ’shock method’ and even today, he does not approve of using the word plyometrics, which originally was used to describe eccentric muscle action. During my two visits to Russia and the month he spent living in my Johannesburg home in 1992 to undertake joint research with me, I had the opportunity to discuss plyometrics with him in great detail.  We examined the most popular Western textbooks on plyometrics and aerobic plyometrics and concluded that “plyometrics” is poorly understood and applied outside the land of its origin.  He was appalled at some of the material in these books and shook his head at what aerobics instructors and sports coaches call plyometrics or plyometric drills.
To share our findings with instructors and personal trainers, we collaborated on a major textbook called Supertraining to explain plyometrics and other advanced Russian and Western sports training methods.  Biomechanics analysis of movements with high speed video, force plates, electromyographs and muscle tension measuring devices carried out by senior engineering students under my supervision furnished new information that enlarged upon the original Russian work.
This article gives a brief overview of what plyometrics actually is and why so-called plyometric training should be called Powermetric Training, i.e. an integrated system of enhancing power in sport, as opposed to plyometric action, which occurs quite naturally in many sporting and daily activities such as running and jumping.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

This book serves as a more popularised practitioner’s version of some of the information distributed on my Internet forum on Puzzles and Paradoxes.  It contains a series of essays and practical guides on many of the topics which I have presented at conferences or used in teaching students over the years.  Before it was published on the open market, it served largely as a internal textbook for students attending the accredited certification courses in strength and conditioning, personal training and aerobics instruction that I initiated and ran for many years through the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

It commences with an extensive list of Facts and Fallacies in Fitness which I have identified from my experiences in the wonderful world of fitness, wellness and sports training.   This compendium is by no means complete, but it serves to illustrate the extent of the dogma which surround the person who is bold enough to consider himself or herself an expert fitness professional.  Most of the fallacies are analysed fairly concisely in this book in Chapters 4 and 5, while others are discussed at length in the essays which follow in Chapters 6 to 22.  All of them intentionally are presented at the beginning of this book to stimulate readers to offer their own comments before reading any further and to analyse the same issues in greater depth after completing the book.  Readers who are interested in contributing or receiving comment on any further facts and fallacies from their own experience are welcome  join my free Internet discussion group (Supertraining) at:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

These early steps were greatly enriched by regular contact with Dr Michael Yessis, American expert on kinesiology and editor of the Soviet Sports Review, as well as by research visits to Russia and some its renowned sports scientists, notably Dr Yuri Verkhoshansky, pioneer of modern plyometrics. This exposure to the training philosophies of Russia and other Eastern countries extended my analytical framework very significantly and culminated in my writing an extensive textbook, Supertraining, to cover the science of all aspects of strength training.  This work especially revealed that many fitness beliefs and training methods are culturally and ideologically determined and biased.  For instance, the West sometimes  rejects Russian methods for political rather than scientific reasons and it tends to regard training programmes for women as being irrelevant to males.    It is beset with numerous paradoxes in health research and care.  For example, despite the vast sums spent on cardiac and cancer research and health education in the West, the incidence of these diseases continues to rise.

Such is the maelström of fitness fact and fiction which involved me in an expedition to make others more aware of the importance of questioning and testing everything that is foisted upon us as truth and knowledge by various authorities.  From 1984 onwards, major fitness organisations in the USA, Australia and England, such as the NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association), IDEA and the Exercise Association, invited me to present some of my findings at their annual conferences.   In addition, various departments of physiotherapy and physical education at universities throughout South Africa regularly requested me to lecture or run workshops on exercise prescription, the biomechanics of human movement and injury rehabilitation.  The topics of Facts and Fallacies, Myths and Facts, Myths and Misconceptions (in Fitness, Strength Training and Aerobics) became so popular and I received so many requests for printed versions of this information, that I began to write regular articles in this field for the Fitness & Sports Review International journal edited by Dr M Yessis in the USA.    Continued friendly pressure from students and fitness professionals for this information has carried me down two related paths, namely the Internet system and this book.    Of very special assistance was the fact that my postgraduate brain and biomechanics research enabled me to draw upon my many years of competitive and coaching experience in Olympic weightlifting and martial arts, in particular, to understand and apply in far greater depth many aspects of the art and science of fitness training.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

The majority tend to regard strength training as being far less important than cardiovascular training, even though most adults in the world require far more strength-related fitness and agility than aerobic fitness for executing their daily tasks.  Many accept the contention that agonist muscle action is always controlled by opposing  action by the ‘antagonists’.  Few realise that the heart serves as an endocrine gland as well as a pump.  The majority are unaware that the hypertrophy produced by bodybuilding can be different from that produced by weightlifting.  For that matter, many of them do not even know the difference between weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding.   Indeed, many fallacies abound in the apparently objective and scientific world of medicine as well

Part of the problem lies in the fact that much of the research funding in exercise science and health is derived from the commercialisation of pharmaceutical products, ergogenic aids and sporting goods, such as shoes and technical equipment.  This funding, as well as grants from government and corporate sources, is often based on combating rampant heart disease by means of endurance activities or costly drugs.  Often the results of research commissioned by sporting and drug companies have to be presented in such a way that any findings detrimental to the sponsors are either omitted or qualified with gentle explanatory notes.  Much research based on highly limited ‘protocols’ using highly selected samples is often the result of the ‘publish or perish’ syndrome which is an accepted type of forced academic labour to ensure that research scientists remain employed or obtain academic rewards.

What emerges is a body of information which is regularly skewed by personal prejudices, pet theories, financial interests and fear of ridicule.  This research has a powerful effect on what is published, what university courses teach and what message is spread by medical and fitness organisations.  We shake our heads at Flat Earth theories, an Earth-centred solar system and the inquisitions of Galileo and Copernicus, but even today, any scientist who questions the status quo puts himself in a similarly dangerous professional position. The findings of critical scientists often have been forced into obscurity  just in case existing power structures, personal reputations or commercial rewards are undermined or destroyed by their disclosure to all.

Is it then surprising that the world of fitness and sports training is strewn with countless beliefs, myths, misconceptions and fallacies?  This book examines some of the ‘facts’ and fallacies in this burgeoning field of work, research and play.  The items have been selected from many years of intriguing research and practice in this field, which has exposed me to a fascinating group of practitioners and scientists from all around the world.  In various roles as a biomechanist, university lecturer, competitive weightlifter, powerlifter, sports coach, aerobics instructor, aerobics judge, sports administrator and competitor in several other sports such as karate, track-and-field, trampolining and cricket, I encountered a daunting encyclopaedia of do’s and don’ts which acts as the Bible for most fitness and sports training.  Heaven help you if you deviate from its contents!

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1

If you are in the fitness, wellness or physique professions, you will have heard these declarations and many more. The emergence of fitness and personal training as a discrete profession has bred a host of rules and guidelines, many of which are contradictory and confusing for the personal trainer, aerobics instructor, bodybuilder and sports coach.  The newcomer and veteran alike are justified in not knowing what to accept and what to discard.  Much of the time they opt for the information disseminated in popular fitness magazines and at fashionable fitness conventions.  Even then, information which disagrees with existing dogma usually is ignored or dismissed because the majority or commercialised view has become firmly entrenched  as the reigning fitness or physique religion.

The ‘thou shalts and thou shalt nots’ of fitness are blindly adhered to with greater fervour than the Ten Commandments of the Bible. Few practitioners ever question the source or validity of this fitness religion, nor are they encouraged to do so, because this would undermine the authority of many fitness organisations, sports equipment companies and fitness professionals.  The position in bodybuilding is just as confusing, since the newcomer has to choose between thousands of different routines promoted by hosts of prominent champions of gargantuan proportions, glossy bodybuilding  magazines and persuasive equipment manufacturers.  In many respects, the world of fitness, bodybuilding  and sports training has yet to emerge from its Dark Ages, despite the fact that modern science is applying highly sophisticated methods to produce some extremely exciting findings about the human body and mind.

Why this apparent paradox? Why is fitness and physique training so primitive in so many respects?  Why does it incorporate so few of the discoveries of modern science?  Why is the fitness profession regarded as a low level profession,  practised by those who cannot pass a serious degree at a university or could not make it in the real world of business?  Why is there a huge collection of damaging fallacies that rarely seem to reach the public?  Why is so much hidden from the fitness professional or physique athlete?  Is there a conspiracy which prevents one from finding out what is fact and fallacy?   Does it suit mass circulation magazines, equipment manufacturers and medical groups to allow most of us to remain in relative ignorance?

Many of the answers to these questions lie in the image projected by high profile individuals, sports heroes, companies and organisations who talk on behalf of the fitness, physique and sports professions.  Very often these self-appointed authorities  become shining examples of the saying that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, yet, sadly, most of their intended audience become committed disciples because they generally are not interested in scratching any deeper than the surface.

For more Facts and Fallacies of Fitness get the book from here

Facts and Fallacies of Fitness

www.factsandfallacies.com

www.twitter.com/supertraining_1