Even More Rippetoe on PJ Media... and the NYT!

I've really been slacking on writing.  Hey, it's a hobby, not a job.  Let's get to the important stuff.  As always, follow the links to read the articles in their entirety. 

First, Coach Rip explains the difference between training and working out.

From PJ Media

That makes “working out” the same thing as “exercise.” The term “exercise” best describes a physical activity performed for the sake of the effect it produces on your body today — right now — or immediately following the workout. If you’re just exercising, the workout itself is the point. Yoga, Pilates, cardio on the treadmill, a group class of any kind — basically punching your time card at the gym is “exercise.” For most people, “exercise” probably involves doing the same thing in the gym every time you go, because the effect is predictable. You want to get hot, sweaty, and tired, because it makes you feel that something positive has occurred. And it has. For many people, the acute effect of “exercise” is all that is necessary for an improvement in their physical wellbeing. 

The modern fitness industry is built exclusively around the “exercise” model.

...

“Training” is the process of moving from one state of physical preparedness to another. The individual workouts that compose the elements of the process are important not in and of themselves, but because their cumulative effect accomplishes a specific definable physical goal. 

To an athlete who is “training” for a performance goal, be it a marathon or a weightlifting meet, the accumulated, increasing stress that characterizes “training” must be specific to the performance goal. This means that “training” must be carefully planned in advance to produce a specific adaptation at a specific point in time. This planning differentiates “training” from “exercise.”

 In other words, training is physical activity with a purpose - an end goal - in mind.  I'd add that, even if you're not a competitive athlete, even if you don't plan to run a marathon or compete at a weightlifting meet, training with a purpose is the way to go.  Set a reasonable goal (even if it seems arbitrary at first) and train for it.  Achieving a goal is motivating, and will help you stick with your program.

I disagree with Coach Rip on one point.

Corporate gyms are counting on you to come in about three days per week, mess around on the machines for 20 minutes, ride the treadmill while you watch television for 30 minutes, hit the sauna, the shower, and then the parking lot. They want you there for an hour, they want you to bring in a friend to sign up, and then they want you gone.

Actually, corporate gyms count on you to not come in.  Their business model is built on the fact that as many as 4/5 people don't use their gym memberships.  If everyone with a gym membership actually used them, the gyms wouldn't have enough room for their clients.  That's how they keep their membership fees low.

Next, Coach Rip explains why you shouldn't be doing LSD.  No, not acid (although that too is advisable)!  He means, "long, slow distance", which is - traditionally - the cornerstone of endurance training.  In this case, he begins with a caveat.

If you are a competitive distance runner or cyclist who is serious about your sport, this article has not been written for you. This highly informative discussion is intended for those people who have taken seriously the advice of doctors, physical therapists, exercise physiologists, and the popular media’s dutiful reporting on these sources of common misinformation about what kind of physical activity is best for your long-term health and continued ability to participate in the business of living well.

He then explains why "cardio" isn't as beneficial as we've been led to believe.  For example:

From PJ Media: This does not look like LSD.

The cumulative effects of high-volume low-intensity work are catabolic, i.e. they produce a metabolic environment that is destructive of lean muscle mass. It’s not merely that running does not produce more muscle size and strength; running at high mileages actively destroys muscle mass. This is why elite cyclists and marathoners have a ribcage that is visible through their corporate sponsorship jerseys. 

The high-mileage cyclist is always trying to recover from training, but by its very nature high-volume endurance work is extremely difficult to recover from. When you’re 25, it’s no big deal. When you’re 40, it’s a bigger deal. When you’re 60, it’s a potentially very bad deal. 

He also explains (again) what makes strength training so beneficial.  For example:

Strength training works in two separate ways, that are actually impossible to separate. 

First, the exercises teach your nervous system to more efficiently use your muscles. Untrained muscles are reluctant to participate fully when asked to contract, and one of the ways strength training makes you stronger is by teaching your nervous system to call more of your muscle fibers into contraction when you work against a load. 

Strength training also builds muscle mass, because a bigger muscle generates more force than a smaller muscle. And muscle mass is the body’s metabolic “bank.” It is the storehouse of protein and amino acids, carbohydrate, and water. Muscle mass is where energy stored as fat is converted to movement and heat. 

Numerous studies have shown that the loss of strength and muscle mass is a predictor of mortality, not just in an aging population but also as the result of acute loss due to injury or immobilization. For examples: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17537093
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2453303/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/86/5/1339.fullS
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10795731
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19366909 

It’s hard to separate these two effects because the body adapts to a force-production stress by adapting both of these strength mechanisms at the same time. The body adapts to stress by getting better at handling it, and since strength is a function of both muscle size and nervous system efficiency, both improve together.

The article leaves unanswered a question I assume many people would have: what to do if one wishes to improve strength and endurance?  The answer is interval training.  In the following video, you can see Jason Khalipa - a 220 lb professional athlete who can move serious weight - improving his endurance by running 10 intervals of 800 meters (1/2 mile) with a 1:1 work:rest ratio.


Jason's endurance training was so effective that he took first place in the 1/2 marathon rowing event at the 2013 CrossFit games.

That brings up another point.  Contrary to what my high school cross country coach told me, LSD should not be the cornerstone of endurance training.  Intervals should be.  I highly recommend CrossFit Endurance for those who want to train for endurance sports, but don't want to make themselves weak.

I don't want to give the impression that one can win a marathon one week and a weightlifting meet the next, but as Jason Khalipa and every other CrossFit Games competitor demonstrate, it is possible to train for both strength and endurance.

Now the fun stuff.  Coach Rip explains how to build your own gym at home and why.

Not everybody who wants to train for strength can fit a gym membership into their lifestyle. Scheduling problems, the cost, travel problems from home or work, the absence of an adequately equipped facility in the market, or simply the dislike of a commercial gym environment motivates many people to invest in a home gym. 

A serviceable home gym for barbell training need not be a gigantic investment, and in fact should be very simple. A bar, some plates, a rack of some type to facilitate the squat and the pressing exercises, a simple flat bench for the bench press, and a platform for deadlifts are all that is absolutely required. For power cleans and snatches, a few bumper plates are quite useful but not absolutely necessary.

From Rogue Fitness

Coach Rip recommends Rogue Fitness and Elite Fitness.  Rogue, in particular, has all kinds of cool ideas for home gyms.  They typically include lots of conditioning equipment, not just the strength training equipment that Coach Rip lists, but one can add or subtract whatever equipment one wants.

I plan on building a home gym in the near future.  I'll post pics when I finally get around to it.

Finally, to the New York Times.  No, Coach Rip isn't writing for the NYT, but a NYT author discovered Starting Strength.

The book came in the mail and then I went to the gym and, per Mr. Rippetoe’s instructions, did three sets of five reps in the squat, dead lift and standing press. Then I went home and drank milk. Two days later, I did three sets of five in the squat and the bench press. I repeated this basic pattern, alternating the dead lift with the power clean, for a year, adding a little more weight to the bar in every lift, during every session. 

Now for the astonishing part: It worked. I was able to lift a tiny bit more every single time, like magic — or, rather, like Milo of Croton, the ancient Greek wrestler who is said to have lifted a newborn calf and then lifted it every day thereafter, as it grew, until Milo carried a full-grown bull. In my own case, I eventually squatted 285 pounds, dead-lifted 335 and bench-pressed 235. Those numbers will not impress strength coaches — I weighed 215, after all — but they were a marvel to me.

The human body hasn't changed all that much since prehistory.  The basics in old Milo's day are still the basics today.  We have more precise equipment than he did, but lifting heavy things in slowly increasing increments is still the best way to grow stronger.

Amazing, isn't it?