Month: July 2009

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The Energy Balance Equation

Recently on the Internet, a common meme is that the application of thermodynamics to the human body is incorrect.  This usually comes out of people talking about something that they clearly do not understand in any way shape or form which is the energy balance equation.

This is usually used as a lead in to the idea that the “Calorie theory of weight gain and weight loss” is incorrect or what have you.   Some have taken this a step further to argue that it can’t be right because “calories are not real“.  You can’t argue with that level of ignorant.

Today, I’m going to do my best to clear things up about what the energy balance equation does and doesn’t mean and why people, who don’t really have a clue what they’re talking about, don’t understand it.  Hopefully by the time you’ve gotten to the end of this, you’ll understand it.… Keep Reading

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Training the Calves

Of all the muscle groups that bodybuilders focus on, calves have traditionally been one of the most difficult to make grow.  Many even feel that it is the most genetic of muscle groups: you either have them or not.  While there is some truth to this at least some of it comes down to the fact that most people aren’t training the calves effectively.  So let me show you how to do it.

Calf Anatomy and Fiber Typing

The muscle group referred to as the calves actually include several muscles although most only focus on two: the gastrocnemius and the soleus.  The primary function of these muscles is to act as plantarflexors (pointing the toe) although the gastroc also has very weak knee flexion activity (which is why some people will catch calf cramps on leg curl type movements).

This is also why doing calf work with the knee bent (e.g.… Keep Reading

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A Look at The Tabata Protcol

In recent years, the Internet has gotten a bit crazy for high-intensity interval training, proclaiming it’s superiority overall other forms of conditioning training.   And while HIIT can take many forms, one popular one, wholly misrepresented in the fitness industry is what is called the Tabata Protocol.

This describes a very specific approach to HIIT created, originally for speed skaters, by an author named Tabata.  Hence the name.     It’s even been studied and it is this study that I want to look at today.

Tabata I. et. al.  Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.  Med Sci Sports Exerc. (1996) 28(10):1327-30.

HIIT and the Tabata Protocol

The concept of HIIT is fairly general, it describes a method of training where short periods of near maximum training lasting 15-90 seconds (with some variance) are alternated with periods of low intensity activity for some number of rounds.   … Keep Reading

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Pros and Cons of Three Sizes of Calorie Deficits

Ignoring those people who deny the energy balance equation or even the concept of calories, the fact is that losing fat requires a calorie deficit.   But that raises questions of how to set the deficit (i.e. exercise vs. diet vs. a combination) or even the size of the deficit. Today I’m going to focus on the latter and examine the pros and cons of different size calorie deficits.

To keep the article from getting too complicated and long I am going to assume for simplicities sake that whether or not the deficit is created via dietary restriction or exercise the end result is basically the same. Please note that this really isn’t a safe assumption.  There are differences but those have to wait for another article.

Defining Different Sizes of Calorie Deficits

For the sake of this argument, I’m going to define the deficits as follows:

  • Small: 10-15% below maintenance
  • Moderate: 20-25% below maintenance
  • Large: anything bigger than 25% below maintenance

Note, I’m not saying that these definitions are the exactly right ones, they are simply how I define the terms. … Keep Reading

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Is There a Best Diet for Premenopausal Women?

One of the longest running debates in the field of nutrition is whether specific diets, especially low-carbohydrate diets, have a “metabolic advantage”.  By this I mean that they can somehow cause more fat loss at the same calorie level as other diets.   A recent study looking at different types of diets in pre-menopausal women is currently making the rounds and people are using it to claim exactly that.  So let’s look at the following study in some detail:

Gardner CD et. al. Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets for change in weight and related risk factors among overweight premenopausal women: the A TO Z Weight Loss Study: a randomized trial. JAMA. (2007) 297(9):969-77.

Low-Carbohydrate Diets and the Metabolic Advantage

As I said above, a long-standing debate is over whether or not specific diets, especially low-carbohydrate diets have a metabolic advantage.  This is an idea that came out of very early, very poorly done research where water loss was confused with real weight and fat loss. … Keep Reading