What Are Effective Reps?

The idea here is that the repetitions that actually turn on the FAK/PA/mTOR pathway are the repetitions done under maximum recruitment (said recruitment being reachable in multiple ways).  With some currently unknown number of “effective reps” being optimal for turning on growth (nobody including me has EVER said there isn’t a volume component to growth.  Only that it isn’t the primary driver.)

I’d mention that  I am by no means the first to write about or conceptualize this idea, I might add. … Keep Reading

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This article has been retracted at the request of the authors on April 16, 2020. They performed an a posteriori analysis of the data and identified inconsistencies that changed their evaluation of the results. The authors apologize for the inconvenience.

But no more information has been provided at this time.

Note: posteriori does not have to do with your butt.  So settle down Bret.

My hope is that the paper will be republished or at least the change in results interpretation will be made available.  But rather than simply depublish my article, I felt it was the honest thing to make it clear that it had been retracted at this time.

If, at some point, it is republished with new results, I will re-examine it. … Keep Reading

The post Evidence of a Ceiling Effect for Training Volume in Trained Men appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

More on the Statistics

First let me point readers to a thorough analysis of the statistics used in Brad’s paper by Brian Bucher.  Basically he takes them apart and shows that none of the THREE metrics supports their strongly worded conclusions.

None of them.

In this vein, here’s something interesting.

Brad and his group have NEVER used Bayesian statistics until this paper.  I searched on my folder of his papers and the term Bayesian shows up 4 times.  Three are papers that Menno Henselmans was on and it’s his email address.  The fourth is one of James Krieger’s meta analyses.  At best James has used them before.

Now I find this interesting because there is no way to know if Brad and James had planned to use this approach ahead of time. … Keep Reading

The post A Challenge to Brad Schoenfeld and Others appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

I wrote a fairly critical piece about that paper (that had issues, see below) and brought up several other problems with it (including one I will finish this piece with).  My questions at Brad or James went completely unanswered with any number of deflections and obfuscations occurring throughout. Even when others, not me, asked similar questions, they went unanswered or were deflected with the kind of behaviors only the best gurus use.

James Krieger, Just Another Lame Guru

Then, a few days ago, James Krieger wrote an article explaining why different studies find different results to “address criticisms being leveled at the study by certain people (like Lyle McDonald)”. … Keep Reading

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MacNaughton et. al. The response of muscle protein synthesis following whole-body resistance exercise is greater following 40 g than 20 g of ingested whey protein.  hysiol Rep, 4 (15), 2016, e12893

Around Workout Nutrition

This paper is quite timely given that I’m currently mired (yes, mired) in the around workout nutrition chapter of the woman’s book.  Now, in recent years, the whole post-workout nutrition thing (or more generally around workout or peri-workout nutrition) has become a little bit more confusing than it was originally.

Back in the day everybody knew you had to consume carbs and fluids (endurance athlete) or carbs and protein (resistance training) for optimal results.… Keep Reading

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There are occasional exceptions, studies on beginners that do make an interesting observation at least for beginners.  Specifically in this case is a study that looked at differences in strength and muscle mass for untrained women doing simple or complex exercises.  So today I want to look at the following paper:

Chilibeck PD et. al. A comparison of strength and muscle mass increases during resistance training in young women. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1998;77(1-2):170-5.

Background

I haven’t done a research review in a fairly long time since I think I found it more useful to write articles and just link out. … Keep Reading

The post Strength and Muscle Mass Increases in Young Women appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

McLean JA et. al. Cognitive dietary restraint is associated with higher urinary cortisol excretion in healthy premenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2001 Jan;73(1):7-12.

And you can get the free full text here.

A Primer on Cortisol

I imagine most visitors to my site are familiar with the hormone cortisol, even if many aren’t quite clear on what it does. Cortisol is often thought of as a “bad” hormone but this is too simplistic; what cortisol does in the body depends on a host of factors.… Keep Reading

The post Dietary Restraint and Cortisol Levels appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

L Davidsen et. al. Impact of the menstrual cycle on determinants of energy balance: a putative role in weight loss attempts. International Journal of Obesity (2007) 31, 887-890

Women and Body Composition

As I discuss in extreme detail in The Women’s Book women get the short of the end of the stick when it comes to body composition.  Their bodies fight back harder, they lose both weight and fat slower (even given an identical intervention), they tend to gain fat more easily, they gain muscle more slowly, etc. … Keep Reading

The post How Does the Menstrual Cycle Affect Energy Balance? appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Hall, KD et. al. Calorie for Calorie, Dietary Fat Restriction Results in More Body Fat Loss than Carbohydrate Restriction in People with Obesity Cell Metabolism  Cell Metabolism (2015) 22: 1–10.

For years the debate over reduced fat or reduced carbohydrates has gone on and it shows no sign of stopping.  The pendulum has actually swung over the years.  In the 70’s, the Atkins diet drove interest in very low/reduced carbohydrate diets.

In the 80’s, reduced fat diets came into vogue as it looked like dietary fat was more easily stored as body fat and it looked like, so long as fat intake was kept low enough, weight and fat loss would happen (this was true until people went nuts and started overeating low fat foods in excess).… Keep Reading

The post Are Low Fat or Low Carb Diets Superior? appeared first on Bodyrecomposition.

Chernev A.  The Dieters Paradox.  Journal of Consumer Psychology.  (2001) 21: 178-183.

Cognitive Bias in Diet and Exercise

I don’t know if I’d say that people do or do not engage in more cognitive bias when it comes to nutrition than in other areas of life but but there is no doubt that they do.  Some of this is conscious but much of it can be chalked up to either unconscious behaviors, misunderstandings (or a lack of information/education) or mishearing or misinterpreting the message.  … Keep Reading

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