Matt Metzgar

Running Right

For many years, I have been interested in the ideas related to Pose running.  Lately, I am starting to think the guys over at BearPowered are perhaps closer to the truth.  I was rereading their book the other night, and it just seems to make more logical sense.  Basically, Pose running attributes speed to gravity or falling forward, while BearPowered attributes it to forces quickly applied to the ground.

The BearPowered theory is backed up by the studies done by Harvard researcher Peter Weyand, that show more (vertical) force applied to the ground results in greater speed.  This also occured to me when I saw a picture in the newspaper of a lady who had a won a 20k race.  She didn't appear to be falling forward; instead, she was really flying forward with huge strides.  According to BearPowered, these huge strides are not the result of muscular effort, but more of a loaded spring model. 

Another good thing about BearPowered is the openness related to form.  The idea is to get faster, but to allow a person's body to naturally find the correct positions and improve the coordination necessary to produce these greater speeds.  Plenty of top runners have idiosyncrasies in their running styles; it doesn't appear to be an insurmountable obstacle if you have the natural talent.

Ultimate Aerobic Training II

Continuous aerobic exercise often gets a bad rap.  It's easy to conjure up images of hobbled joggers plodding down the street.  But as I've mentioned before, continuous exercise can produce benefits that interval training may not be able to.

Here's a new study that compares continuous training versus interval training.  Whole-body insulin sensitivity increased by 27% in the continuous group with no change in the interval group.  This didn't lead to any changes in body composition, but the study duration was only 4 weeks.  Over the course of time, I bet this would have an effect on fat loss.  Plus, the diet used was the standard high-carb diet, which could have blocked changes in body fat levels.

Busy Bee

I am in the process of starting a new job, so my energies are being directed there right now.  Right now, I am a busy bee, but things should hopefully ease up soon.  Speaking of bees, here's a Paleolithic cave painting of honey gathering:

Snoopy II

Memorial Day 2008

Vacation!

Finally, I'm on vacation for a few days.  I haven't had a real day off since I moved cross-country last year.  It's good to have a chance to relax for a few days.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few posts in, but right now I'm content to just lounge around and take it easy.

Fear of Food

In terms of weight control, I feel many people think of food as the enemy, and that's unfortunate.  The truth is that individuals have become overweight because of eating the wrong foods, not necessarily because of gluttony.  It's the poor food choices that lead to a distorted appetite and the associated calorie excess.

Instead of reversing this cycle at the core, by making correct food choices, many try to reduce food intake and count calories.  Of course, this type of short-term fix has repeatedly failed for millions.  It also leads to a distorted sense of how food fits into a person's lifestyle.

In a natural sense, food is good.  Food is nourishment and food is the reward of labor.  Almost all celebrations and family events involve food.  In this way, food is not to be feared - instead, it is something to be embraced.

Given only natural foods, I'm not even sure if it's possible to become overweight.  By natural, I mean a pure Paleo diet (or at least the modern version of it).  Maybe if someone was very sedentary and ate all the time, but I'm still not sure.

If any foods should be treated as the enemy, it would be bad carbohydrates.  But again, I don't think this way of looking at things is correct.  Instead, bad carbs would be something a person would consume in a limited amount, only when they felt it was acceptable to do so.

A few cookies at Christmas never killed anybody.  Pounding the body on a daily basis with bad carbs will.  Natural food is something to be savored and enjoyed, not feared.  If you choose the right foods, you will be rewarded with the right physical outcomes.

Cinnamon

The last month or two I've been making good use of the crockpot, mainly cooking vegetables and meat.  To jazz things up a bit, I added some cinnamon to a meal I made last night.  The cinnamon really seemed to mix well with the chicken and yams.  I was surprised how much better everything tasted by adding just a bit of spice.

It turns out that cinnamon actually helps lessen the metabolic syndrome.  This new study shows cinnamon has beneficial on insulin and other related factors.  I will continue using cinnamon and also try to branch out into other spices.

Baby Sleep Cycles

The other week I purchased, "The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program", a new book on how babies sleep.  I was interested in it because the book is based on biology and internal body clocks.  The core of the book rests on the Basic Rest and Activity Cycle (BRAC), which has been shown to exist in humans.  In short, people's alertness and energy tends to rise and fall in 90-minute cycles.  The book applies this idea to a baby's sleep pattern.

In practice, once a baby wakes up from overnight or a nap, a new 90-minute clock will start.  At the end of the 90 minutes, a younger baby will often be ready to go back to sleep.  Older babies can sometimes string 2 or 3 consecutive 90-minute cycles of awake time together before needing a nap.  But if a baby is tired after one of these 90-minute cycles, then they should be helped back to sleep.  Otherwise, the baby has missed this opportunity for rest and will get cranky throughout the day and evening.  Also, the sleep or nap itself may not go in 90-minute cycles, but whenever the baby wakes up, a new 90-minute clock begins.

I tried this the other week with our baby and it was exactly right, almost down to the minute.  Amazing!  We then started tracking it, and it has continued to work very well.  I wish I would have had this book some months ago, it probably would have saved me a few headaches.

After reading the book, I realized that many babies are probably sleep-deprived.  Of course, this is not a good thing.  Sleep deprivation in adults contributes to obesity; who knows how it affects a developing baby.

I give this book the highest rating.  It's based on science and is in accordance with biology.  It's good for babies and will lessen the strain on parents as well.  For more information, the author's website is here.

Food versus Exercise

This entry is just a recap of this post that shows the work of trainer Robb Wolf.  I think the story was so important that I wanted to retell it here.  The before-and-after photos below show the results of a 2-day per week exercise program along with a Paleo diet.  What's interesting is that the subjects were already in training when the "before" pictures were taken.  The idea is that a bad diet can block virtually all the effects of a good exercise program. 

Robb goes into detail about things in this word document.  The moral of the story is that if you're eating a bad diet in conjunction with an exercise program, you are really just spinning your wheels.