Ground Up Strength Feed

Alzheimer's Disease Could Be Caused by a Key Brain Protein Not Being Cleared

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:55:00 +0000

December 20, 2010

According to the National Institutes of health, new research has discovered a key brain protein linked to Alzheimer's disease which is produced in a normal amount but is not being efficiently cleared from the brain in patients with the condition. The discovery of this protein problem may produce better tests that could detect Alzheimer's more early, possibly even leading to new treatments.

The condition is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer who described it in 1906. Dr. Alzheimer described the brain changes in a female patient who had died after the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an strange mental illness. The doctor found abnormal clumps and tangled fibers in the woman's brain tissue.

These clumps are now known as amyloid plaques. They consist primarily of a protein fragment called beta-amyloid which is produced normally by nerve cells and released into the surrounding brain fluid. The tangled bundles of fiber the doctor found are called called neurofibrillary tangles. The protein plaques and fiber tangles cause progressive damage to the brain.

Alzheimer's, the most common cause of dementia in older adults, affects as many as 5 million Americans. The most prevelant type of the disease is late-onset Alzheimer’s which usually produces symptoms after age 65.

Recently, new ways have been developed to measure beta-amyloid levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)—the fluid that bathes the brain. An NIH-supported team led by Dr. Randall Bateman at Washington University in St. Louis developed a procedure to measure beta-amyloid levels over time. In the new study, they measured beta-amyloid production and clearance rates in 12 patients with late-onset Alzheimer's and 12 age-matched volunteers free of the disease.

The participants' CSF was sampled hourly for 36 hours via a one-time lumbar puncture. Throughout the procedure, they were encouraged to stay in bed. During the first 9 hours, the participants received an IV drip containing leucine, a protein building block, that had been labeled with a non-radioactive isotope. By measuring the amount of labeled beta-amyloid by mass spectroscopy over time, the researchers were able to calculate how fast it was produced in the participants’ brains and then how fast it was cleared.

The researchers reported in the early online edition of Science on December 9, 2010, that the beta-amyloid production rate was similar between the 2 groups. However, the clearance of beta-amyloid was about 30% slower in those with Alzheimer's disease than in cognitively normal people.

Prior studies in animals suggest several possible explanations for the slower clearance of beta-amyloid in late-onset Alzheimer's disease. One possibility is that as beta-amyloid accumulates, it acts as a sink for more of the protein, trapping it within the brain. The researchers say that sorting out these mechanisms may help speed the development of new drugs for the disease.

"These findings may help point us toward better diagnostic tests and effective therapies," Bateman says. "The next question is what is causing the decreased clearance rate."

"This study is significant in that it reports the first measurement of beta-amyloid production and clearance in Alzheimer's," says Dr. Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad, director of the Division of Neuroscience at NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA). "For years scientists believed that it was the overproduction of beta-amyloid that led to its accumulation in the brain. These new findings shift the emphasis to clearance of beta-amyloid. This may lead to development of a diagnostic test as well as identification of new therapeutic targets."

Citation

"Alzheimer's Disease May Stem from Protein Clearance Problem." National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Home Page. Web. 15 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/december2010/12202010alzdisease.htm>.

Reference

"General Information." National Institute on Aging. Web. 15 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nia.nih.gov/Alzheimers/AlzheimersInformation/GeneralInfo/>.

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by EricT

Does Industry Sponsorship of Nutrition Research Influence Study Outcomes?

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 23:10:34 +0000

PLOS Medicine, 2007

From the editors of PLOS Medicine in regards to Lesser LI, Ebbeling CB, Goozner M, Wypij D, Ludwig DS (2007) Relationship between Funding Source and Conclusion among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles. January 2007

In 111 scientific articles on nonalcoholic beverages, articles with all industry funding were more than 7 times more likely to have favorable conclusions compared with articles with no industry funding.

Much of the money available for doing medical research comes from companies, as opposed to government agencies or charities. There is some evidence that when a research study is sponsored by an organization that has a financial interest in the outcome, the study is more likely to produce results that favor the funder (this is called “sponsorship bias”). This phenomenon is worrying, because if our knowledge about effectiveness and safety of medicines is based on biased findings, patients could suffer. However, it is not clear whether sponsorship bias extends beyond research into drugs, but also affects other types of research that is in the public interest. For example, research into the health benefits, or otherwise, of different types of food and drink may affect government guidelines, regulations, and the behavior patterns of members of the public. Were sponsorship bias also to exist in this area of research, the health of the wider public could be affected.

Why Was This Study Done?

There is not a great deal of evidence about whether sponsorship bias affects nutritional research (scientific studies that look at the relationship between food and/or drink, and health or disease states). Therefore, the group of researchers here set out to collect information from published nutritional research papers, to see if the type of sponsorship for the research studies was in any way linked with whether the main conclusions were favorable or unfavorable to the sponsor.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

The research study reported here used the scientific literature as a source of data. The researchers chose to examine one particular area of nutrition (nonalcoholic drinks including soft drinks, juices, and milk), so that their investigation would not be affected too much by variability between the different types of nutritional research. Using literature searches, the researchers identified all original research and scientific review articles published between January 1999 and December 2003 that examined soft drinks, juices, and milk; described research carried out in humans; and at the same time drew conclusions relevant to health or disease. Then, information from each published article was categorized: the conclusions were coded as either favorable, unfavorable, or neutral in relation to the health effects of the products being studied, and the article's funding was coded as either all industry (ie, food/drinks companies), no industry, or mixed. 206 published articles were analyzed and only 54% declared funding. The researchers found that, overall, there was a strong association between the type of funding available for these articles and the conclusions that were drawn. Articles sponsored exclusively by food/drinks companies were four to eight times more likely to have conclusions favorable to the financial interests of the sponsoring company than articles which were not sponsored by food or drinks companies.

What Do These Findings Mean?

These findings suggest that a high potential for bias exists in research into the health benefits or harms of nonalcoholic drinks. It is not clear from this research study why or how this bias comes about, but there are many different mechanisms that might cause it. The researchers suggest that certain initiatives might help to reduce bias, for example, increasing independent funding of nutrition research.

Does Funding Source Bias Conclusions of Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles?

Citation

Lesser LI, Ebbeling CB, Goozner M, Wypij D, Ludwig DS (2007) Relationship between Funding Source and Conclusion among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles. PLoS Med 4(1): e5. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040005

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by EricT

Early Prion Detection May Be Possible - Big Step Forward in Identifying Spongiform Encephalopathies

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:26:07 +0000

NIH Research Matters, December 13, 2010

Researchers have developed a method for detecting prions that may lead to a practical test for diagnosing the fatal brain conditions caused by these infectious agents.

Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, include mad cow disease in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. These diseases are characterized by sponge-like holes in brain tissue. They are notoriously difficult to diagnose, untreatable and ultimately fatal.

Prions are actually misfolded forms of proteins naturally found in the body. Prions can convert normally folded prion protein molecules into an infectious form when they come in contact with each other. These misshapen prion proteins clump together and accumulate in brain tissue.

Miniscule amounts of infectious prions found outside the brain can be detected by current diagnostic tests, but these methods lack the speed and convenience needed for routine use. Other quicker approaches aren't sensitive enough to detect low levels of infection. A research team led by Dr. Byron Caughey of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has been working to develop a better method for quickly detecting small amounts of prions.

The researchers described their new method—called real-time quaking-induced conversion, or RT-QuIC—in the December 2, 2010, online edition of PLoS Pathogens: Rapid End-Point Quantitation of Prion Seeding Activity with Sensitivity Comparable to Bioassays. RT-QuIC is about 50-200 times faster and much less expensive than animal bioassays that detect similarly small amounts of disease-causing prions.

RT-QuIC takes advantage of the ability of tiny amounts of prions to seed the misfolding of normal prion proteins in a test tube. The method involves testing a range of dilutions to see at what point the sample loses its seeding activity.

The scientists tested tissue samples from infected deer and sheep and were able to distinguish infected animals from normal ones in 2 days or less. They were also able to detect prions in nasal washes from infected hamsters.

"Although relatively rare in humans and other animals, prion diseases are devastating to those infected and can have huge economic impacts," says NIAID Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. "Scientists have promising concepts for developing therapies for people infected with prion diseases, but treatments are helpful only if it is known who needs them. This detection model could eventually bridge that gap."

Along with optimizing their test in the laboratory, the researchers are teaming up with other laboratories to extend the applications of RT-QuIC. Similar approaches might also aid the diagnoses of additional neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Huntington’s and Parkinson's.

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by EricT

Succimer found Ineffective for Removing Mercury from the Body

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:12:04 +0000

Released by NIH, Friday, October 22, 2010

Succimer, a drug used for treating lead poisoning, does not effectively remove mercury from the body, according to research supported by the National Institutes of Health. Some families have turned to succimer as an alternative therapy for treating autism.

"Succimer is effective for treating children with lead poisoning, but it does not work very well for mercury," said Walter Rogan, M.D., head of the Pediatric Epidemiology Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH, and an author on the paper that appears online in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"Although it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce mercury, succimer is reportedly being used for conditions like autism, in the belief that these conditions are caused, in part, by mercury poisoning," Rogan stated. "Our new data offers little support for this practice."

Samples and data were used from an earlier clinical trial, led by NIEHS, called the Treatment of Lead-exposed Children (TLC) trial. In the TLC study, succimer lowered blood lead in 2-year-old children with moderate to high blood lead concentrations.

To conduct the study a research team led by Dr. Walter Rogan at NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) sought to investigate whether succimer can also remove mercury from the blood. The team used blood samples and data from 767 children, aged 12 to 33 months, who participated in this earlier clinical trial of children who were treated for high blood levels of lead.

The research team measured mercury concentrations in blood samples collected prior to treatment, a week after beginning treatment with succimer or placebo, and again after 3 month-long courses of treatment. The study was funded by NIEHS, NIH's National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results appeared online on October 1, 2010, in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The researchers found that, after 1 week, succimer lowered blood concentrations of mercury by 8%. In contrast, it reduced blood lead concentration by 42%. After 5 months, those taking succimer had blood mercury concentrations about 20% lower than the control group. However, the therapy had only slowed the rate at which the children accumulated mercury.

"Succimer is effective for treating children with lead poisoning, but it does not work very well for mercury," Rogan says. "Although succimer may slow the increase in blood mercury concentrations, such small changes seem unlikely to produce any clinical benefit."

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Although researchers found that succimer lowered blood concentrations of mercury after one week, continued therapy for five months only slowed the rate at which the children accumulated mercury. The safety of higher doses and longer courses of treatment has not been studied.

Mercury poisoning can be dangerous and even fatal. Children might be exposed to mercury from several sources, but the majority of exposure in the United States comes in the form of methylmercury, which is found in foods such as certain fish. Methylmecury is known to be toxic to fetuses. Thimerosal, a preservative once commonly used in vaccines, contains another form of mercury called ethylmercury.

Some people believe that mercury in vaccines and from other sources can affect development of the nervous system and contribute to autism. However, extensive research has found no conclusive evidence that any part of a vaccine or combination of vaccines causes autism. Even so, aside from some flu vaccines, mercury compounds have been reduced or eliminated from most routine childhood vaccines.

Using blood samples from 767 children who participated in the TLC trial, the researchers measured mercury concentration in the toddlers’ blood samples collected before treatment began, one week after beginning treatment with succimer or placebo, and then again after three month-long courses of treatment. Mercury concentrations were similar in all children before treatment. Concentrations eventually increased in both groups, but more slowly in the children given succimer. Succimer had produced a 42 percent difference in blood lead, but only an 18 percent difference in blood mercury.

"Although succimer may slow the increase in blood mercury concentrations, such small changes seem unlikely to produce any clinical benefit," Rogan said. He and his colleagues had reported in an earlier paper that succimer has few adverse side effects, mostly rashes, and an unexplained increase in injuries in children given succimer rather than placebo.

The subjects of the study did not have unusually high blood mercury concentrations for African-American children and the study did not investigate where the mercury in the children came from.

"This research fills a gap in the scientific literature that could not be addressed any other way. We were fortunate to have samples already collected from toddlers who had been treated with succimer for lead poisoning allowing us to help answer this important question," said Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., director of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program.

Birnbaum noted NIH's commitment to supporting research that provides critically needed information that will help drive more prevention and treatment options for children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The study was supported by the NIEHS Intramural Research Program, the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH, and the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The succimer, Chemet, and the placebo, were gifts from McNeil Laboratories, Fort Washington, Pa.

The NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information on environmental health topics, visit www.niehs.nih.gov. Subscribe to one or more of the NIEHS news lists (www.niehs.nih.gov/news/releases/newslist/index.cfm) to stay current on NIEHS news, press releases, grant opportunities, training, events, and publications.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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Reference

Cao Y, Chen A, Jones RL, Radcliffe J, Dietrich KN, Caldwell KL, et al. 2010. Efficacy of Succimer Chelation of Mercury at Background Exposures in Toddlers: A Randomized Trial. J Pediatr. Epub ahead of print. DOI:10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.08.036.

by EricT

Warning: The Hidden Risks of Erectile Dysfunction and Sexual Stimulant Dietary Supplement 'Treatments' Sold Online

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 18:20:25 +0000

Men looking online for “dietary supplements” to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) or enhance their sexual performance should beware: these products may contain prescription drugs or other undisclosed ingredients that can be harmful. “The number of these problematic products available on the Internet appears to be increasing,” says Michael Levy, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance. The division is part of the Office of Compliance (OOC) in the agency’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).

Many consumers perceive these products as completely safe because they are often sold with labeling, suggesting that they are all-natural alternatives to prescription drug products that have been approved by FDA for treating ED.

But these products may be laced with potentially hazardous ingredients that aren’t noted on the label.
Since 2004, FDA has become aware of several such “dietary supplements” (see list below).

Viagra Ingredient Found

Working with other FDA components, the division’s Internet and Health Fraud Team led an Internet survey in which more than one-third of purchased “dietary supplements” claiming to spur sexual enhancement or treat ED contained undisclosed prescription drug ingredients or similar substances.

Six of the 17 products contained sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra) or a substance similar to either sildenafil or vardenafil. Vardenafil is the active ingredient in Levitra, another FDA-approved prescription drug that treats ED.

Mark Hirsch, a medical team Leader in CDER’s Division of Reproductive and Urologic Products, says this undisclosed presence of prescription drug ingredients—and similar compounds known as analogs of the drugs—can lead to serious side effects in users.

Online Erectile Dysfunction / Sexual Performance Enhancers to Avoid

Since 2004, FDA has identified several products sold online as so-called “dietary supplements” for treating erectile dysfunction and enhancing sexual performance. These products have contained potentially harmful, undeclared ingredients. Included among them are:

• Actra-Rx
• Actra-Sx
• Libidus
• Nasutra
• Neophase
• Vigor-25
• Yilishen
• Zimaxx
• 4EVERON
• Liviro3
• Lycium Barbarum L.
• Adam Free
• Rhino V Max
• V.Max
• True Man
• Energy Max
• HS Joy of Love
• NaturalUp
• Blue Steel
• Erextra
• Super Shangai
• Strong Testis
• Shangai Ultra
• Shangai Ultra X
• Lady Shangai
• Shangai Regular, also marketed as Shangai Chaojimengnan
• Hero
• Naturalë Super Plus
• Xiadafil VIP tablets (Lots 6K029 and 6K209-SEI only)

Dangerous Interactions

“These products may interact in dangerous ways with drugs that a consumer is already taking,” Hirsch says. For example, taking sildenafil in addition to certain prescription drugs containing nitrates may lower blood pressure to an unsafe level.

People with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol,or heart disease are often prescribed drugs containing nitrates, and men with these conditions commonly suffer from ED, Hirsch says. “Those are factors that doctors consider when prescribing approved ED treatments.”

Preventive Measures

Levy says FDA has determined that many of these products or their active ingredients are imported into the United States from other countries.

“FDA is working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to develop a more effective network to successfully screen and stop these shipments from entering U.S. commerce,” says Huascar Batista, team leader of OOC’s Import-Export Team.

“FDA uses all of its enforcement powers—including warning letters, seizures, injunctions, import alerts, and criminal prosecution—to protect consumers against these products,” says Levy. Follow-up investigations continue to identify multiple problem products, resulting in additional import alerts, recalls, and seizure actions.

In 2008, U.S. Marshals, at FDA’s request, seized products from two different firms that contained undeclared active ingredients found in FDA-approved prescription drugs for ED, or similar substances.
In April 2008, they seized more than 14,000 dosages of products known as Shangai Regular, Shangai Ultra, Super Shangai, Naturalë Super Plus, and Lady Shangai. The seized products, valued at more than $100,000, originated in China and were packaged and distributed by Shangai Distributors Inc. of Coamo, Puerto Rico.

In July 2008, the Marshals seized specific lots of illegal Xiadafil VIP tablets distributed by SEI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (SEI) of Miami, Fla. The total worth of the seized tablets neared $74,000.
In both cases, the firms prompted FDA enforcement by failing to act after being notified of the potential adverse health risks posed by the products.

FDA is also evaluating innovative ways to educate consumers about the risks of buying such sexual enhancement products and other drugs online.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Health Information Web page (www.fda.gov/consumer), which features the latest updates on FDA-regulated products. Sign up for free e-mail subscriptions at www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html.

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by EricT

The Gus Newsletter: More a Letter Than "News"

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:57:49 +0000

It has recently occurred to me that since I am putting so much effort into the Ground Up Strength newsletter, to the point of writing a free ebook for our subscribers that is already seven chapters and growing, that I should write a bit about why you should subscribe to it. What makes it different than other letters?

Well, it's an actual letter. Although of course I give reports of new GUS articles and pages I try to say something unique and new about each and every one of them. It's not just a collection of links it's information, insight, opinion, and rants you will not get on Ground Up Strength itself.

But it's more than that. I try to include something new and unique for each newsletter, much of it completely independent of GUS activities. There are full-fledged articles and tips and more. The fact is I work as hard on the letter as on anything I produce for GUS or for any other place. I am so adamant about doing so that I have considered not calling it a 'newsletter' but simply calling it the GUS Letter. I'm proud of it and I think it is a great source of information. I only hope that I can continue to improve it as I learn more about what my subscribers need and want.

You have to be a subscriber to get it. Members of GUS also get access to the newsletter archive list. But nobody who is not a subscriber or is not a GUS member will ever be able to see the entire newsletter archive. It is truly for you and only for you. I change the location of the archive list with each new edition. This is an inconvienence, I know, to my subscribers since it makes it difficult for them to share the list. However subscribers can share the actual newsletters and they are free to share links to any individual entry since those links to do not change (only the parent location changes).

By subscribing now you get a free pdf which contains some key articles from GUS and an additional nine pages of original information related to those articles. That is just a sampling of things to come. The new ebook, to be entitled "Breaking into Strength" will be unlike any free document you have ever received. I feel confident in saying that because, frankly, most people in the industry will think I am insane for giving it away!

Since writing this I've decided to release eBooks in installments so that you do not have to wait around for me to complete it. I want you to expect value and I aim to try my hardest to deliver it. Sign up for the newsletter now and recieve two free downloads.

Take a look at a sample issue such as Fitness, Oxidative Stress, Vitamins and Contralateral Strength Differences.

If you are already a subscriber and you would like to comment, criticize, or suggest, then this is the place to do it. Feel free to leave a comment here. If you like the newsletters then maybe you will feel like joining in here at GUS.

Comments

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by EricT

Why Waiting Until You Are Thirsty Is NOT Too Late

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:19:37 +0000

If you wait until you are thirsty it is too late. You are already dehydrated. You ever heard that? I'll bet you have. Right before you were told to pour a gallon or two of water down your throat every single day. Complete and utter bull-hockey.

This is the fourth part in the series Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas in which they tackle the all-important thirst myth. This myth is embedded in diamond hard stone and I have no illusions that even this excellent article will break it out…but it will darn well expose it to the air where it can begin being removed once and for all (don't make fun of my analogies, now!) I've been patiently explaining to people and debating with people about the fact that you can trust your thirst but I lacked the scientific chops to do it justice. Enter Science of Sport.

So, if you have been listening to the guru talk on strength or bodybuilding sites and drowning yourself in gallons of water a day you need to read this and stop torturing yourself. I cannot even believe that people are doing this even when they are sitting around doing nothing…let alone when doing the cardio bunny routine or lifting weights.

This article is aimed at endurance athletes…and not just that but ULTRA endurance athletes. So listen up because if it applies to them it darn well applies to you.

Fluid Intake, Dehydration and Exercise Part IV: Why Waiting Until You Are Thirsty is NOT Too Late

The entire series can easily be accessed from any one article in the series.

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by EricT

Reverse Breathing

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:12:04 +0000

Previously I've called upper chest breathing either inverted or paradoxical breathing. In case you haven't gotten the news flash, it's bad. Now, I'm seeing something called 'reverse breathing' being promoted for martial artists. Wikipedia says that it is "Ancient Chinese Secret".

The practice appears to be an almost perfect instruction on incorrect breathing. The idea is to expand your abdomen while breathing out and pull your stomach in while breathing in. Absolutely ridiculous and a good way to 'gas out' for a martial artist. Here is a some excerpts from an article at DragonDoor. It's full of nonsensical gobbledygook but these are the highlights of the instruction:

From DragonDoor by Tim Heurtz:

"To begin, stand with your feet shoulders wide, relax your shoulders into their sockets and “swallow” your chest (swallowing your chest is believed to stimulate the thymus gland which aids in the immune system)."

Let's stop there. What? Double what? I believe, I believe.

"Tilt the pelvis up and touch your tongue lightly to the roof of your mouth. Tuck the chin in a bit and you’re ready to start."

Incidentally, the tongue thing is also how you can ward off the death touch.

"Expel all your air and push not only your stomach out, but also your sides and lower back… Inhale slowly through the nose and pull your stomach in while lifting the perineum (that no-man’s land that separates the front from the back – just another way of working the anal lock or the squeezing and lifting of the anal sphincter and sex organs)."

While your busy trying to lift your perineum let me rant just a bit on how very WRONG that is. That is textbook bad breathing. No wonder they have a disclaimer after every article. The abdomen should never pull in during inhalation and when it does you have lapsed into an unhealthy breathing pattern which is physiologically reverse of what it should be. Who promotes practices that are 'reverse' of what our body's are made to do?

Learn how breathing is supposed to work with this handy category called breathing.

- Eric Troy

Comments

by EricT

Deadhang Pullups Versus Whatever

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:21:41 +0000

A "question" about so called deadhang pullups has found it's way into way too many trainee's minds. We can blame Crossfit once again for muddying the waters.

All "variations" of the pullup are really not changes to the basic exercise, they are just changes to grip. Beyond that you just pull your body up after hanging from a bar. You either start a pullup from a completely stretched "dead" hang, you do a little bit of cheating with your legs, or perhaps leave the elbows flexed a bit. But the mechanics of the exercise is basically the same.

For those of us who are proficient at the pullup there is no controversy here. I dare say we at GUS are beyond proficient since most of us can strap quite a bit of weight between our legs and pull ourselves up. Let's assume we can rep out pretty good from a "dead" hang.

What I'm saying is we really just don't care THAT much. Most of our pullups are done strictly. The only 'controversy' that exists between the widely known variations of the pullup is with the bodybuilding community. Do wide grip pullups hit the upper lats, bro?

Crossfit, with it's kipping obsession has managed to put the "deadhang" term into popular use and thus create a quite unneeded question. Trainees think they must hang from the bar for five seconds between each rep or they are not being strict.

It's all just a spillover. The controversy is between Kipping Pullups and regular pullup. Why there should be a controversy I don't know. If you want to do a kipping pullup do a kipping pullup. It doesn't offend my sensibilities so let's stop being so precious about it. I'll look for you at the Olympics. I'll bet your ring routine will be stellar.

They are two quite different exercises in my mind and it's like comparing a deadlift to a clean.

There is absolutely no reason why a trainee who is not interested in Kipping pullups needs to analyze a regular pullup to such an extent. Funny thing is the people who do this are having trouble doing pullups. So there you go. This is analysis paralysis at work. If you can barely do one pullup then deadhang is just a word. Just because crossfitters must have at least a 3 to 1 ratio between analysis time and workout time doesn't mean we must follow suit.

Institutionalized zeal is never appropriate, in my opinion. There is a fine line between passion, camaraderie, and FERVOR for a method that replaces what should be passion for results.

By the way, if you really cannot do a pullup, you may be interested in my article Can't Do A Pullup? Stay Positive. It is full of lots of words and lots of tips.

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by EricT

Using Pictures To Learn Lifts

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:17:48 +0000

YOUTUBE is one of the coolest things ever invented. No doubt about it. But using youtube videos to learn your lifts from can present quite a conundrum. There may be one or two grains of wheat in a big old pile of chaff. And even once you find the grainy goodness you may be misled in many ways.

You can't depend on even a VERY GOOD example of form by somebody else to show how YOU should look while performing an exercise. But at least it is a moving picture. At least it can have sound. The person making the video can give a few instructional cues rather than just "show" you.

And yet there are people out there telling us to use STILL IMAGES to learn! Holy smackerel!

When it comes to learning the lifts IS a picture worth a thousand words?

Find out what I think in my blog post Are Weight Training Images 'Picture Perfect'?

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by EricT

Check out our blogs

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:29:57 +0000

In case you haven't noticed we have some new blogs here at GUS. They promise to be full to the brim of good vibes and good conversation. OK maybe the vibes may sometime sour but the conversation will always be good! I have added one myself which will be a more casual and loose kinda blog than what I do at GUStrength's Blog. I haven't even finalized the design of mine (sorry) I just jumped right in.

Check them out:



Joe Weir Strength Blog

Anuj's Training Blog


Eric Troy's Blog

Comment if you feel like it. Disagree. Agree. Question.

Or post in the forum. As a member or guest.

I'm not going to go all strengthmill on you and claim it's "the most intelligent strength forum in the universe" or whatever. But then again we are intelligent enough to know we don't know everything.

Creative blog names, aren't they?

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by EricT

Do Sports Drinks Prevent Hyponatremia?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:04:22 +0000

Hyponatremia is an electrolyte imbalance in which the sodium concentration in blood plasma falls lower than normal. It has been believed, for many years that we "lose" salt through our sweat.

This is why our high school track coach encouraged us to take salt pills. Hyponatremia is also what sports drinks are supposed to prevent. As far as most coaches were concerned back then, we were losing salt by the gram as soon as we started sweating.

Even today, many except this without question. In fact, I had a brief conversation with an acquaintance just the other day in which Gatorade came up. I told her how I used to love Gatorade for it's taste (except the green kind) but that I realized that I drank MORE when I used Gatorade or other sports drinks as compared to when I just drank water.

It was no surprise however, when she muttered the "it replaces your electrolytes" line without complete conviction. I, in a moment of naive enthusiasm for human intelligence, began to explain how there was very little real science to support…but I stopped myself before any of the remaining hairs abandoned my scalp.

Through the amazing power of marketing, people are able to use the words like "electrolytes" confidently without even having a clear idea of what electrolytes are!

That brings me to the last installment of Theories and Fallacies of Muscle Cramps by Ross and Jonathan of Science of Sport.

Continue Reading » Muscle Cramps Part V

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by EricT

So Many Good Programs...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:59:25 +0000

And so many gyms collecting fees for nothing

If you're reading this page you probably fall loosely into one of three categories (I mean loosely because you can't really put people into boxes):

1. You train or work out…whatever you want to call it…regularly

2. You are just beginning to work out and are looking for ideas, info, answers…

3. You want to begin working out and are looking for ways to get started

If you fall into the first category you may take it all for granted. If you fall into the second or third category you are, just possibly, overwhelmed by the possibilities.

One thing I try to remember is that there is a whole world of people out there that never heard of this site. That never heard of me. That have never lifted a weight. That are out of shape.

And that will need more than a few empty aphorisms to get them into shape. "Get off your butt and pick a program" is probably the worst thing I could say to someone who is daunted and intimidated by the overwhelming task of changing their sedentary lifestyle. Now a lot of the trainers and coaches out there may disagree with me. "Overwhelming?", they will say. "You just have to do it. You just have to stop being lazy and do it." These attitudes themselves are a big pet peeve of mine because most terse statements like these require all sorts of qualification to be useful.

They seem to forget that not everybody is an athlete nor does everybody want to be. And before you tell me that every one SHOULD want to be an athlete, I would warn you to keep your value judgements to yourself.

When you can't extend yourself beyond your own very limited little corner of reality; if you are caught up in your own little world; and if you can't relate to what someone is going through, how can you hope to help them? Many "hardcore" trainers wonder why someone like Richard Simmons was so successful. You want to know why? Because he understands the people he is dealing with. He 'gets it'. Make fun and criticize all you like but 'getting it' is half the battle. The other part is he CARES. So while you are putting the Simmons of the world down and showing how knowledgeable and smarmy you can be…people are turning the page looking for someone who can stop obfuscating for a minute and show them he or she cares just a little bit.

People who are overhelmed by the challenge of changing their lifestyle don't have time for ego trips.

But why is it overwhelming? There are many reasons.

I've made a series of blog posts that discuss some of the reasons why:

The Paradox of Choice

Fitness: All Encompassing Means Paralyzing

Guilt and Exercise Don't Mix

If any of the stuff in these posts sounds familiar to you and if you feel like you could use some help getting started, then come on back and let us know what we can do for you. We will do whatever we can and we won't charge a penny.

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by EricT