Acupressure better for relieving lower back pain

A study, published in the British Medical Journal revealed the following. Two groups of lower back pain sufferers were assigned either physical therapy or acupressure. Both groups experienced short-term relief but only the group, treated with acupressure experienced less pain 6 months or more after the treatment.

That is good to know, having in mind that every third person suffers from back pain of some sort at some point of their life.

I personally never put in doubt the efficacy of the Chinese medicine. In fact it was a part of my education program for massage therapy.

Omega-6 promotes prostate cancer growth

A new study revealed prostate cancer cells grew twice faster when exposed to omega-6 fatty acids. I guess we (especially men) have another reason now to try to stick to the healthy ratio of not more than 4:1 of omega-6 to omega-3.

My suggestion: Use more cold-pressed flax seed oil as well as a good fish oil supplement (refer to the “Ivan’s Choices” section in my website after May 1). Restrict the use of other oils like corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil.

Longer Recovery Periods in HIIT increase power

Scientists found that longer recovery periods (30 sec compared to 10 sec) while doing High Intensity Interval Training cardio help increase the power and decrease the fatigue. The study was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. The group of athletes, who performed the cardio with the short recovery periods didn’t allow for their heart rate to go down and this made their cardio workout more like an endurance workout. So, if you are for the endurance you know what to pick. But if you are interested in increasing power then HIIT with longer recovery periods is the way to go.

The role of protein and amino acid supplements in the athlete's diet: does type or timing of ingestion matter?

"Rather than the age-old debate regarding overall protein and amino acid needs of athletes, this paper focuses on the importance of timing and type of protein and amino acid ingestion relative to both muscle growth and exercise performance. Evidence discussed comes from definitive measurement techniques including net protein balance determinations (for acute studies) or quantification of muscle size or strength (for chronic studies) First, recent data indicate that consuming a small meal of mixed macronutrient composition (or perhaps even a very small quantity of a few indispensable amino acids) immediately before or following strength exercise bouts can alter significantly net protein balance, resulting in greater gains in both muscle mass and strength than observed with training alone. With aerobic exercise, some evidence suggests immediate postexercise (but perhaps not pre-exercise) supplementation is also beneficial. Second, protein type may also be important owing to variable speeds of absorption and availability, differences in amino acid and peptide profiles, unique hormonal response, or positive effects on antioxidant defense. In addition to athletes, many others who desire to regain, maintain, or enhance muscle mass or function, including those with muscle-wasting diseases, astronauts, and all of us as we age, need to ensure that nutrient availability is sufficient during the apparently critical anabolic window of time associated with exercise training sessions. Future studies are needed to fine tune these recommendations."

Bottled water

"It may taste better, but bottled water is held to the same legal safety standards as tap water. And that store-bought water may be coming from a municipal water source that is no cleaner than the water from your own faucet."

I have nothing to add here. Thi is an exerpt from an article by the Harvard Medical School...

Differential effects of strength training leading to failure versus not to failure on hormonal responses, strength, and muscle power gains

" The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of 11 wk of resistance training to failure vs. nonfailure, followed by an identical 5-wk peaking period of maximal strength and power training for both groups as well as to examine the underlying physiological changes in basal circulating anabolic and catabolic hormones. Forty-two physically active men were matched and then randomly assigned to either a training to failure (RF; n = 14), nonfailure (NRF; n = 15), or control groups (C; n = 13). Muscular and power testing and blood draws to determine basal hormonal concentrations were conducted before the initiation of training (T0), after 6 wk of training (T1), after 11 wk of training (T2), and after 16 wk of training (T3). Both RF and NRF resulted in similar gains in 1-repetition maximum bench press (23 and 23%) and parallel squat (22 and 23%), muscle power output of the arm (27 and 28%) and leg extensor muscles (26 and 29%), and maximal number of repetitions performed during parallel squat (66 and 69%). RF group experienced larger gains in the maximal number of repetitions performed during the bench press. The peaking phase (T2 to T3) after NRF resulted in larger gains in muscle power output of the lower extremities, whereas after RF it resulted in larger gains in the maximal number of repetitions performed during the bench press. Strength training leading to RF resulted in reductions in resting concentrations of IGF-1 and elevations in IGFBP-3, whereas NRF resulted in reduced resting cortisol concentrations and an elevation in resting serum total testosterone concentration. This investigation demonstrated a potential beneficial stimulus of NRF for improving strength and power, especially during the subsequent peaking training period, whereas performing sets to failure resulted in greater gains in local muscular endurance. Elevation in IGFBP-3 after resistance training may have been compensatory to accommodate the reduction in IGF-1 to preserve IGF availability."

I just stumbled upon this interesting study. It shows that not training to failure is more beneficial than training to failure. Just the decrease in resting cortisol concentrations and the elevation of total serum testosterone is a good reason not to go to failure in your training (or at least not too often). It's worth giving it a shot. For some of you this probably is the way it's always been. But for me things will change a bit. I always loved to train to failure.

Effect of increased fat availability on metabolism and exercise capacity.

"Several procedures have been utilized to elevate plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration and increase fatty acid (FA) delivery to skeletal muscle during exercise. These include fasting, caffeine ingestion, L-carnitine supplementation, ingestion of medium-chain and long-chain triglyceride (LCT) solutions, and intravenous infusion of intralipid emulsions. Studies in which both untrained and well-trained subjects have ingested LCT solutions or received an infusion of intralipid (in combination with an injection of heparin) before exercise have reported significant reductions in whole-body carbohydrate oxidation and decreased muscle glycogen utilization during both moderate and intense dynamic exercise lasting 15-60 min. The effects of increased FA provision on rates of muscle glucose uptake during exercise are, however, equivocal. Despite substantial muscle glycogen sparing (15-48% compared with control), exercise capacity is not systematically improved in the face of increased FA availability."

So, make sure you eat your low to moderate GI carbohydrate + protein meal 1 hour to 1.5 hours before your workout. Carbs always work as long as you don't ingest the highest GI carb right before you hit the weights and plunge into a hypoglycemia (very low blood sugar levels) soon after that.

Overweight athlete: fact or fiction?

"Maintaining appropriate body weight is important for athletic performance. Body mass index (BMI) is commonly used to classify an individual's body weight. However, in the case of athletes, who may have a high body weight due to higher lean body mass, BMI may lead to misclassification of the athlete as overweight or obese. Thus, both BMI and body composition assessment should be conducted before determining if an athlete is overweight or obese."

In my opinion BMI should not be considered in athletes, who are engaged in practicing bodybuilding. Whether a bodybuilder is overweight or not should be determined only by a body composition assessment (total body mass and lean body mass). If you know your body fat percentage, you can easily determine that:

Len Body Mass = Total Body Mass - Fat Mass

Level of dietary protein impacts whole body protein turnover in trained males at rest

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.

"The current investigation examined the effect of variations in protein intake on Whole body protein turnover (WBPTO) at rest in endurance-trained males. Whole body protein turnover is influenced by both diet and exercise. Whether endurance athletes require more protein than the non-exerciser remains equivocal. Five male runners (21.3 +/- 0.3 years, 179 +/- 2 cm, 70.6 +/- 0.1 kg, 8.7% +/- 0.4% body fat, 70.6 +/- 0.1 VO(2)max) participated in a randomized, crossover design diet intervention where they consumed either a low-protein (LP; 0.8 g/kg), moderate-protein (MP; 1.8 g/kg), or high-protein (HP; 3.6 g/kg) diet for 3 weeks. Whole body protein turnover (Ra, leucine rate of appearance; NOLD, nonoxidative leucine disposal; and Ox, leucine oxidation), nitrogen balance, and substrate oxidation were assessed at rest following each dietary intervention period. The HP diet increased leucine Ra (indicator of protein breakdown; 136.7 +/- 9.3, 129.1 +/- 7.4, and 107.8 +/- 3.1 micromol/[kg . h] for HP, MP, and LP diets, respectively) and leucine Ox (31.0 +/- 3.6, 26.2 +/- 4.3, and 18.3 +/- 0.6 micromol/[kg . h] for HP, MP, and LP diets, respectively) compared with LP diet (P < .05). No differences were noted in nonoxidative leucine disposal (an indicator of protein synthesis) across diets. Nitrogen balance was greater for HP diet than for MP and LP diets (10.2 +/- 0.7, 1.8 +/- 0.6, and -0.3 +/- 0.5 for HP, MP, and LP diets, respectively). Protein oxidation increased with increasing protein intake (54% +/- 6%, 25% +/- 1%, and 14% +/- 2% for HP, MP, and LP diets, respectively). Findings from this study show that variations in protein intake can modulate WBPTO and that protein intake approximating the current recommended dietary allowance was not sufficient to achieve nitrogen balance in the endurance-trained males in this investigation. Our results suggest that a protein intake of 1.2 g/kg or 10% of total energy intake is needed to achieve a positive nitrogen balance. This is not a concern for most endurance athletes who routinely consume protein at or above this level."

For your information only 1.2 g/kg equals to o.55 g/LB. As the study suggests you will need more than that to achieve a positive nitrogen balance (one of the most important factors for muscle anabolism to occur). I mentioned several times what my recommendations are - 1 g/LB, which will surely put you in the "zone" (understand positive nitrogen balance and not the Barry Sears's zone:). More than that might place unnecessary stress on your system. The long effects of very high protein intake are still not well studied and documented. So, be on the safe side.

The effects of 8 weeks of creatine monohydrate and glutamine supplementation on body composition and performance measures.

"Lehmkuhl M, Malone M, Justice B, Trone G, Pistilli E, Vinci D, Haff EE, Kilgore JL, Haff GG.

Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.

Twenty-nine (17 men, 12 women) collegiate track and field athletes were randomly divided into a creatine monohydrate (CM, n = 10) group, creatine monohydrate and glutamine (CG, n = 10) group, or placebo (P, n = 9) group. The CM group received 0.3 g creatine.kg body mass per day for 1 week, followed by 0.03 g creatine.kg body mass per day for 7 weeks. The CG group received the same creatine dosage scheme as the CM group plus 4 g glutamine.day(-1). All 3 treatment groups participated in an identical periodized strength and conditioning program during preseason training. Body composition, vertical jump, and cycle performances were tested before (T1) and after (T2) the 8-week supplementation period. Body mass and lean body mass (LBM) increased at a greater rate for the CM and CG groups, compared with the P treatment. Additionally, the CM and CG groups exhibited significantly greater improvement in initial rate of power production, compared with the placebo treatment. These results suggest CM and CG significantly increase body mass, LBM, and initial rate of power production during multiple cycle ergometer bouts."

It is a well known fact that Creatine Monohydrate and Glutamine are two of the few supplements on the market that are worth the money - they really work.