Martial arts, Tai Chi

When I was in England there was a point, right before my wedding when I was in probably the best shape of my F-ing life! During those times I was actively involved in martial arts - Muay Thai and Kickboxing at the EFC Club. The thing about martial arts training, even if you never fight, and I am way too fucking old to be fighting (outside of bars that is), the workouts are intense. They work conditions and muscularity. Like gymnasts - you never see a fat martial artist, or rarely, I should say. So there's obviously something to it. 

First conditioning - quite frankly the first time I did a muay thai class, I thought i was going to die if not from dehydration because I had sweat so much from sheer torture! Class after class, however, my conditioning increased and I was loving the effects it had on my body. 

Second - the impact based training. You are basically doing body weight exercise with impact resistance. Let me explain. Throw a punch while shadow boxing and you are doing a body weight exercise that works your triceps and shoulders. Throw that punch into a bag or pad being held by someone and the impact it generates is equal (roughly) the amount of force with which you can throw a punch, kick, elbow, knee, etc! I notice that this type of conditioning makes things 'tighter" especially my love handles. Not sure why, or how, but this was something I noticed. 

Third, and lastly - balance and coordination. Try throwing a kick to a bag while blocking a punch - you are on one leg (balance) and need to coordinate several large muscle groups (coordination). This can only be beneficial for the gymnastics style training I am working on. 

I have started a Tai Chi class and am going to start King-fu next week. We will see if it helps my progression....

From Odd look to compliments...

So for the past month or so I have overcome my embarrassment and have been using my suspension rope trainer constantly; in fact, just about every workout I use it in some way. 

When I started, many the gym-goer shot me an odd look - reading their minds might reveal a "what in the fuck is he doing with that rope?" However, recently, within the past week or so, I have actually received a few interested inquiries and compliments. The first came from an older lady who asked quite frankly, what in the world are you doing? I explained the rationale and she said, well it looks really hard, and its obviously working (she flirtatiously followed this with a cute little squeeze of my bicep, that whore! ;-)  The second compliment came when I heard a Personal training client ask my trainer what I was doing? The trainer, William, indicated that he had introduced me to the TRX and that I had made my own with some rope from Home Depot. The client commented, "Looks insanely hard!" He is right - it is INSANELY hard, but feeling good.  The third and last and perhaps the greatest compliment I have received came from a rather large, body building looking middle aged guy at the gym. I was returning the dumbbells I use to practice my planche to the rack. He was doing some kind of overhead triceps extension, or something, I was really tired and not paying attention, except that I noticed him hurry up to complete his set to talk to me. He turned and said to me "Hey man, so are you a gymnast or something?" God damn! He actually asked me if I was a gymnast. For me, at this time, beastskill training, there is really no higher compliment! I of course said, "Yes, didnt you see me in beijing? Not! I said no, and went into what has now become a sales pitch for the rope trainer. He actually asked if he could jump in and try suspended dips and L-sits next time we are in the gym at the same time. 

Its a really nice feeling to know that people are noticing your workout for the difficulty that it represents and not just judging you because you are doing something unconventional. 

Now, I am not so embarrassed to use my rope trainer. Its a good feeling. 

(Limp) Cross Progression

Using my suspension trainer, I have been trying to work up the strength to hold an Iron Cross.

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I cannot yet achieve that move. I have begun to lower myself, however, and can get to about 45 degrees of arm separation. It is quite stressful on the shoulders and joints. I can hold it at about 45 degrees for about 5-7 seconds and then pull myself up and down again. It looks something like this:

.. I am getting there, slowly, but surely, I am getting there...

Peanutbutter and Jam Smoothie

So in my opinion nothing accompanies a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich better than a tall glass of milk. So I decided to try and make a smoothie, with milk, that emulated this wonderful flavor. 

Here goes.

Into your magic bullet/blender toss the following items and blend until smooth:

2 Tablespoons (or more, depending on your taste) Peanutbutter (can be smooth or crunchy, but generally I try to use low or reduced fat varieties)

Generous helping (about a handful) of raisins (for this item you could substitute the fruit of your favorite jam, preserve, or jelly (e.g., raspberry would work well))

Big handful of ice

1/2 cup milk (low fat if possible)

cup of dry cereal (I use post shredded wheat and bran, but you could use anything from lucky charms to Cheerios, I would think)

You could also add a banana, protein mix, weight gainer, or whatever your pleasure is. 

Then, Drink.

Training progression and circuits

I read an article about Jason Statham's (British actor beast) workout routine and I decided I needed to actually organize my workouts. So I made a list of just about all the exercises I could think of and tried to come up with an easy way to lump them together. I created warm up routines, of which I do two before moving on to gymnastics style moves and suspension training. Here is what I did today:

Warm up 1: 10 minutes of interval sprints - run on the treadmill varying the speed between 6mph and 8.5 (that's as fast as I can go, but go faster if you please)

Warm up 2: star jump (jumping jack) + squat thrust combos. Do 1 star jump followed immediately by a squat thrust, then do 2 star jumps followed immediately by 2 squat thrusts and so forth until you get to somewhere between 5-10 reps of each exercise.  Then work your way back down to 1 rep each and you are done and should be warm, sweaty and breathing a bit heavily. Now on to the real workout.

Gymnastics moves: same idea as above for warm up #2, start each circuit with 1 rep of each exercise and work your way up to about 5-10 and then work your way back down to 1 rep. However, here give yourself at least 30 seconds rest between circuit sets.

Combo 1: suspended rope dips + chin-ups + box jumps

Combo 2: L-sit (on dumbbells) move into Planche + pushup (any variation you like). Hold the L-sit and planche for as long as you can. Work up to about 5-10 reps of pushups and then work back down.

Suspension/Rope training: 

High back pulls (4 sets of 10-15 reps) (pull the rope straight back keeping your elbows high so that you are pulling the rope to about your chin)

Biceps Curl. Keep your arms still and curl using only your biceps. Superset this with a timed rope hang, which entails simply grabbing the suspension rope and hanging for as long as you can, trying each time to increase how long you can hang.

Rope pulls: attach a weight (today I used a 45lb/20Kg plate) to the end of the rope using a slip-knot (since there are already holes for your hands this is pretty easy to do. Place the weight plate the rope's length away from you. Grab the other end of the rope and pull the weight along the floor to your feet as quickly as you can. Mix it up a bit - pull the weight while standing on one leg, then alternate legs. Pull the weight toward you and then (holding the rope) sprint to where the weight was before you pulled it to you, turn and pull the weight, repeat until death ;-)

Suspended planks. These are good fun. Place your feet in the hand holes of the suspension rope. Then get up in the plank position - you can mix it up using either your elbows (traditional), your hands with elbows straight (advanced) or the swiss ball (fucking really hard!) Rest 20 seconds. Turn your body to one side and do a side plank (same varieties as above) and while suspended draw your knees into your chest. Make sure that you do not swing back and forth and that you maintain a proper side plank position. Rest 20 seconds and repeat on opposite side.

Cool down by stretching.
Also, I find it is important to use what Statham refers to as "active rest". Active rest is not just standing there, but rather a low intensity activity like walking around. Don't just stand there, stretch, walk, move while "resting" unless you really cannot.

Exercise and Neural Efficiency

Outside of the fitness world, I am known as an evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist (1, 2) that studies the relationship between activity in the brain and perception of faces (e.g., children v. adult faces, self-face v. friend face, and attractive faces v. unattractive faces). However, recently I have developed an interest in the relationship between brain activity and athleticism. One active program of research in this area deals with the so-called "neural efficiency hypothesis".

The "neural efficiency hypothesis" (NEH) posits that experts solve problems or conquer tasks and use less neural (brain) activity to accomplish it; hence, their brains approach the problem more efficiently! This idea has been taken to the experimental test in extreme, or expert, athletes. A research group in Italy, Dr. Claudio Del Percio and his colleagues, recently (3) compared brain activity and behavioral responses between non-athletes, expert fencers, and expert karate masters. The research participants sat in a lab and viewed images of fencing and/or karate attacks and had to make a determination if the attack was an attack from/to the right or the left by pressing a key as quickly as they could. While this was happening the researchers were measuring continuous brain electric activity using EEG (4). 

Dr. Del Percio and his colleagues discovered that the expert athletes were no better and no faster at responding to the attack movements when compared to non-athletes, although there were trends for the non-athletes and karate athletes to make more corrects responses for right and left athletes, and for the karate athletes to respond a little fast than the other two groups. The brain activity analysis revealed (I summarize here) that non-athletes showed increased activity to right attacks, relative to both athlete groups, but there was no difference in activity between groups for the let attack condition. Interestingly, this confirms the NEH for the right attack by showing that expert athletes show reduced neural activity when responding to images that represent their sport when compared to non-athletes. The study also highlights issues with the NEH: namely that for left attack the NEH was not supported. Additionally, for some conditions the researchers found that the karate athletes actually showed increased neural activity, which confirms my suggestion that martial arts is just simply damn good for you!

At the end of the day, what does it all mean? In my interpretation, I think this means that the NEH is not perfect and needs more research. Essentially, the way in which neural efficiency "is activated in the brain" may depend on the side of the event (I should have noted that all the participants were right handed), the hemisphere of the brain that processes the information, and the type of athletic training/expertise involved. 

Why do I care about the "neural efficiency hypothesis"? For two reasons: 1) because as an active researcher myself, with a healthy interest in fitness and the brain. 2) because as I make may way forward in training to execute various gymnastics style moves, I realize that like many other behaviors (e.g., music, dance, etc) that are both physical and coordination based thinking about things messes you up. It takes you out of the "zone". The gymnastics style exercise(s)/routines I am trying to learn also fall into this "zone" psychology realm, I think. For example, when I first started to train for the L-seat I had to put a lot of thought into what my hands had to do, what my hip flexors has to do, my core strength, etc. Now that I have been doing the mover for a few months, I can just, sort of, pop up into the move.  In fact, now when I think too much about it, especially during the exercise, the move get ugly. Thinking about it prior to executing it seems to help - as a mental preparation or practice almost. Interestingly, because the nature of 'being in the zone' maybe that it taps into neural efficiency, it should free up the brain to do other things. For example a recent post at wst-training talked about evaluating getting into a move and the do's and don'ts. Because the move had become familiar, Dan is able to evaluate other aspects of the move and provide advice and instruction to the rest of us. This effect appears to be related to a number of psychological constructs such as intelligence (5) and memory (6).  Future investigations in my lab may take the form of investigating neural efficiency toward faces. In fact, I guess we have already shown in several studies that same-race faces are processed quite differently than other race faces (7, 8). We will also being to actively research this in the athletic/fitness realm as well.  

So, I guess if there is going to be a moral to this story, it's try to work toward neural efficiency if only so that you can provide me with advice (like Dan has) to be a better athlete!

A Sure Core

A strong, stable core is integral to being fit. Today I inadvertently worked my core 'til is was sore! My trainer-friend at Gold's, William, suggested the exercise to me. I was using my suspension rope trainer to do chest press. My hands were in the ropes and I was hanging horizontally with my feet propped up on a box (one that's used for box jumps, see below).

I certainly was not using boxes this high. The one I used was just about 12-16 inches high.

On my 3rd set, William suggested I tap my core "harder" and use a swiss ball under my feet.

So, I was suspended horizontally with my hands in the holes of my rope suspension trainer and

and my feet suspended and balancing on a Swill ball. Then I did 10 pushups. Talk about hard.

Not only are you doing a slightly inverted pushup, but your hands are trying to move in all

directions. Your feet and legs are rolling side to side. So you have to stabilize your core so

that you don't twist off the ball and fall to the ground. Looked something like this (http://www.expertvillage.com/video/119513_suspension-trainer-chest-presses.htm) with my feet on a swiss ball instead of being stood up.

It's a good one. Give it a try if you dare... Ha ha ha!

Exercise to excite your genes

Today's modernized society is drastically different from the environment that our ancestors evolved in. Modern Homo sapiens, as we are scientifically referred to, have been about for 10,000 +/- years with modern physiology probably laid down in place as late as 40,000 years ago. Evolution rarely, if ever, happens in 1-2 generations = about 75-100 years life span of the modern Human. So what's happened? Why have modern, industrialized humans gotten fat? The answer is more complex than you might initially think. For example, the common answer to that question is: Our diets have changed to more fatty and sugary diets. True, but our ancestors likely scarfed down all the fat on the animals they killed and reaped rewards by harvesting high sugar, sweet fruits and things like honey. Others will say: It's the artificial substances added to our diets. Probably also true, but as noted above, 1-2 generations would be unlikely a time period for evolution of fatties to occur. What some scientists predict has happened is that combined with our high calorie (although likely no higher than our ancestors' and maybe lower) and a newly founded sedentary lifestyle (television, playstation, board games, etc) we have developed, not evolved to be fatties. Our ancestors (think cave man) were not all that sedentary. Hard to be still and lazy when you've got to feed your whole family, maybe part of a larger tribe, all of whom are counting on you for sustenance and their own survival. Hard to do when avoiding predators is a daily task. Being eaten makes evolution really hard!

The hypothesis, and one I like, suggests that our bodies have a set of yet unidentified genes associated with, or 'activated' by, exercise. These researchers suggest that exercise, especially when started at a young age, turn on genes that help the body efficiently store and use energy (i.e. food). In fact, they even suggest that one way to explain super athletes, of which I am not, is that they posses so-called "thrifty" genes; genes, or more likely a suite of genes, that are better than average at utilizing energy for oxygen consumption and expenditure of ATP. This would explain why, train all you like, you are unlikely to ever jump as far as Carl Lewis or swim as fast as Michael Phelps. Just ain't gonna happen! Critics, probably fat critics, would argue that this is another attempt on the part of the scientific/evolutionary community to put forth the idea of genetic determinism: that you are your genes and nothing more. Nothing could be further from the truth. Think about it medically. Some people posses a suite of genes that make them more likely to develop heart disease or lung disease. If they smoke and eat McDonalds daily then those genes actually get turned on overdrive and, low and behold, the person develops the disease(s). Take mental illnesses for another example. Some people posses genetic predisposition to being anxious. They develop fears easier than the rest of us. They worry about almost everything and it can sometimes become debilitating to their daily existence. This is the premise of gene X environment interactions. 

So why can't their exist genes that are designed to interact with our environment in a way that makes our musculo-skeletal physiology develop in certain ways? Plain and simple: There are! So, moral of the story: eat your Wheaties, but exercise too! Move your body in any way you can. Turn on those genes so that you can be fitter! Even a little movement can count towards activating your genes for fitness. Try standing up to turn the tele on / off. You will burn way more calories by lifting and moving your body weight than you will by sitting there pushing remote control buttons. I have another idea - drop the playstation controller and get out and do it! Don't play Madden '09, FIFA, or Hockey - get outside and join an intramural team. Get your sweat on, just don't get hurt.  

This post comes by way of hearing a few people complain that they are overweight because they "just couldn't find the time" to exercise, join a team, make the game, etc. excuses! This drives me crazy! Fitness is a lifestyle for my wife and I, but from an evolutionary perspective fitness is a lifestyle for our species! We were not designed to sit around the water cooler discussing who did what on Lost or Heroes. Our ancestors (that's about 4 million years of evolutionary history) were forced to be active to survive. This is probably the reason that so many o us that engage in an active lifestyle actually find it rewarding and somewhat addictive; our bodies miss being active when we don't move. This, and I hypothesize here, may be our evolutionary history saying - what the fuck are you doing? Don't you fucking know that if you sit on your ass a predator is going to eat you? Don't you fucking know that the fat dudes don't get laid? Your body, and I am saying: Get the fuck up and MOVE!!!!