Matt Metzgar

Going Green

I tried an eco-friendly version of a household cleaner the other day on a whim.  I found it worked just as well as a typical cleaner, and did not have any of the toxic chemicals as ingredients.

I did a little research and found that a lot of the chemicals used in commercial cleaning products really aren't necessary and are harmful to the environment.  So I decided to throw out these products and buy some natural/organic ones instead.  I bought a few products from the Ecover brand, which appears to be a solid company. 

Below is a picture of everything that I threw out.  Basically, if it said anything about the Poison Control Center on the back, it went in the trash.  It just doesn't make sense that poisonous products are necessary to clean your house.

Load-Carrying

I've never thought that the traditional format of repetitions and sets is very "natural".  For one, no other animal besides us lifts weights in such a structured fashion.  And this current version of weightlifting has really only gained popularity in the last fifty years, so it is a relatively recent phenomenon.

I'm not denying that modern resistance training works to build muscle and improve performance.  But I do doubt that hunter-gatherers performed anything close to this type of weightlifting.

I've been reading this paper that suggests that load-carrying was a determining factor in how the human body developed.  The paper mentions that hunting activity can be divided into three categories: capture, processing, and transport of game and tools.  The authors then go on to point out some anatomical features which suggest that carrying was a significant factor for human body development.

A modern equivalent of this type of load-carrying is the "farmer's walk", where a person simply walks while carrying a heavy weight.  I used to do these in the past but I have gotten anyway from them in recent years.  This research has made me think that this type of lifting may be more "natural" and beneficial than modern lifting programs.

Ageless Mice

Daily aerobic exercise, such as walking, produces a variety of health benefits.  Slightly more intense exercise, such as easy running, may also be of benefit.  This study researched mice who engaged in easy running (60% of VO2max or less) for 60 minutes a day five days a week.

The objective of the study was to determine the effects of habitual exercise on aging.  The authors noted that the exercising mice "exhibited a reversion of all the observed aging effects on intestinal, skeletal, and heart muscles".  The exercise also prevented the progression of lipid oxidation and sarcopenia.

Would the same type of exercise program have similar effects in humans?  Studies of long-term endurance runners usually show they are in good health, but more research on this is needed.  However, this study shows the power of exercise in delaying aging.

Aerobic Fitness Predicts Future Health

I've read a number of new studies linking low aerobic fitness with all sorts of concurrent health problems.  Yet there has also been work showing that low aerobic fitness is a predictor of future health issues.

This study shows that low aerobic capacity predicts subsequent increases in body fat in children.  This study shows that low aerobic capacity predicts an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome five years later.

Aerobic capacity (vo2max) can be improved by a variety of aerobic exercise programs.  Accumulating evidence suggests that improving aerobic fitness is vital for avoiding future health problems.

Nolan Shaheed

Henry Rono is chasing the the mile record for men ages 55-60, currently held by Nolan Shaheed.  I came across some interesting articles (here and here) about Nolan's training and diet.  His regimen is quite unique compared to other runners.

First, he only eats one big meal a day, fasting the rest of the time.  His meals consist mostly of fruit, vegetables, and fish.  He takes one month off each year, and during that time eats only every other day with just water in between.

As for his running, he builds up a large aerobic base in the off-season with many miles done at an easy, aerobic pace.  In the spring, he adds some speedwork and races.

This formula certainly appears to be working for him.  It also mimics many features of hunter-gatherer life such as the daily runs (hunting for food), the big meal after training (eating after a successful hunt), and the meal composition of fruits, vegetables, and fish (Paleolithic foods).

Runner's (aka Shoe) World

I picked up this month's issue of Runner's World to read an article about Henry Rono's comeback.  (Henry is a former world record holder who I've written about here.)  I probably haven't bought an issue of Runner's World in a few years, and unfortunately the magazine still seems to be centered on the same subject: shoes.

This issue had pages upon pages reviewing all different types of shoes: motion-control shoes, shoes for pronation, supination, etc.  But what's wrong with the bare foot?  Nothing in my mind, and therefore the less shoe, the better.

Slowly, researchers are making their way around to this same conclusion.  This recent paper suggests that shoe-wearing itself is behind some of the foot problems that occur in modern societies.

Calorie Restriction and Sarcopenia

People generally lose muscle as they age (sarcopenia).  This can be the result of a few factors: 1) decrease in muscle fiber size, 2) conversion of fibers from type II to type I, and 3) decrease in the total number of muscle fibers.

Training can impact the first two of these variables, but the third, loss of muscle fibers was thought to be beyond control.  Now some new studies are starting to question this belief.

This study(pdf) shows that in rats, calorie restriction led to no loss of muscle fibers with age.  This held true whether the rats were younger or older when subjected to calorie restriction.  The idea is that calorie restriction led to decreased oxidative damage and better protein turnover in the muscles.

This news item discusses a similar study where calorie restriction in rats led to virtually no loss in muscle function during aging. 

I think all this is quite amazing given the traditional idea of sarcopenia.  It's normally thought that muscles get weaker with age and that strength training is needed to counteract this.  These studies suggest that diet may be a way to halt muscle loss as well.

The next question for me is that if calorie restriction works, will intermittent fasting have the same effects?  In general, I believe that intermittent fasting provides all the benefits of calorie restriction without the costs (fatigue, loss of libido, etc.).  I hope future studies will address this.

How Do Top Runners Train?

I read this neat article earlier this week.  It looks at the actual training of top cross-country runners in Spain and their subsequent race performance.

The first thing I was surprised by was how much low-intensity training these runners did.  A full 71% of all training time was spent at a low-intensity (below 60% of VO2max).  21% of the training was done at a moderate pace, and 8% was done at a high-intensity.

Further, there was a direct correlation between time spent in the low-intensity zone and subsequent performance in both a 4k and 10k cross-country race.  Surprisingly, there was no relationship between time spent either at moderate or high intensities and race performance.

The authors also believe these proportions spent in the different training zones are applicable to other endurance sports.  They note that cyclists preparing for the Tour de France spend 70%, 23%, and 7% of their total training time in the low, moderate and high intensity zones respectively.

The idea behind low-intensity training is to build an aerobic pace.  At low levels of intensity, there is less work done by the muscles and more work done by the heart and lungs. 

This whole study was very eye-opening for me.  Many fitness writers are big on high-intensity and believe that only intensity can lead to better performance.  This study shows it may be the opposite: more time spent at an easy pace yields bigger dividends in terms of endurance performance.

Fake Chocolate

I was looking for some dark chocolate in the grocery store tonight, and noticed a bottle of Hersey's chocolate syrup.  On the front it read, "genuine chocolate flavor", so next I looked at the ingredients.

The ingredients are listed on this web page, but I will also list them here:

HERSHEY’S Chocolate Syrup - High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar, cocoa, contains 2% or less of: potassium sorbate (preservative), salt, mono & digycerides, polysorbate 60 (emulsifier), xanthan gum & vanilla (artificial flavor).

It turns out that this "chocolate syrup" is nothing more than sugar syrup.  Cocoa is not the first ingredient, but the fifth!  Who knows how little cocoa they actually put in there.  It goes to show you that what you see advertised is not always what you get.

Dried Fruit

s If you enjoy snacks, dried fruit is an excellent choice.  There are lots of varieties to choose from, such as berry mixes or apples.  And of course, there is the old standby of raisins.

A box of raisins is a hundred times healthier for a person than a candy bar from a vending machine.  I always keep a few boxes raisins at work if I need a boost.  There's even some evidence that grape skins have antiinflammatory properties, so you can't go wrong with raisins!