I did my “little 6” workout today. I worked a busy 5pm-1am shift last night, so I didn’t get to the gym until about 11:30. It was a good workout, with some modest improvements. I Spent the rest of the day decorating for Christmas, and felt great doing it.

Calf Raise- stable weight, TUL up 2 seconds
Ab-stable weight, down 5 seconds- (I am going to drop the weight back on this movement, as the weight I have progressed to has caused stabilization issues and form breakdown)
Nautilus Plateloader Bicep- stable weight, up 5 seconds
Tricep Pushdown- up 2.5lbs, TUL down 2 seconds
Formulator Wrist Curl- stable weight, up 2 seconds
Formulator Wrist Curl-stable weight and TUL.

If you refer to my last comment on the previous WOW, you will see my answer to Dave when he asked if HIT can improve one’s immunity. I discussed innate vs adaptive immunity, and explained that innate immunity was a multi-pronged approach involving white blood cells, T-cells and chemical mediators as a way of bum-rushing invading organisms (as opposed to adaptive immunity that involves making a specific antibody for a particular organism). I explained how you have to depend less on adaptive immunity when your innate immunity is high. I believe that HIT improves innate immunity by increasing the effectiveness of your white cells, killer T-cells and certain cytokines. I also explained that innate immunity can be consumed by systemic inflammatory states, and that HIT can decrease systemic inflammation. Here is a soon-to-be-released article that demonstrates that strength training does decrease the systemic inflammatory state.

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Nov 13. [Epub ahead of print]
Resistance Training At 8RM Reduces the Inflammatory Milieu in Elderly Women.
Phillips MD, Flynn MG, McFarlin BK, Stewart LK, Timmerman KL.
1Texas Christian University, Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Fort Worth, TX 2Purdue University, Wastl Human Performance Laboratory, West Lafayette, IN 3University of Houston, Laboratory of Integrated Physiology, Houston, TX 4Louisiana State University, Department of Kinesiology, Baton Rouge, LA 5University of Texas Medical Branch, Sealy Center on Aging, Galveston, TX.
INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE:: Inflammatory cytokines are associated with age- and inactivity-related disease. We examined the influence of moderate-high intensity resistance exercise training (RT) on inflammatory cytokines (IL-6,IL-1beta, and TNF-alpha) in circulation and LPS-stimulated whole blood in elderly women. METHOD:: Previously sedentary women (72+/-6.1 yr) were grouped according to their hormone replacement regimen: traditional estrogen/progesterone (HRT, N=12), selective estrogen receptor modulator (SER, N=7), no hormone replacement (NHR, N=9), or non-exercise control group taking no hormone replacement (CON; N=7). HRT, SER, and NHR trained (three sets, 10 exercises at 8RM) three days per week while CON maintained their “normal” activity for 10 weeks. Participants performed a bout of resistance exercise (RE; 8RM)(HRT,SER,NHR) or sat quietly (CON) before (BT) and after (AT) RT to assess the influence of training on the acute responses to RE. Blood samples were obtained pre-exercise (PR), post-exercise (PO), and two hours post-exercise (2H)(same time points for resting CON). RESULTS:: Hormone status had no influence on dependent variables so HRT, SER and NHR were collapsed into one exercise group (EX; N=28) and compared to CON. RT significantly reduced resting serum TNF-alpha by 37%. RT also reduced LPS-stimulated production of IL-6, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha at all time points (PR, PO, 2H; per monocyte). Acute RE transiently increased plasma TNF-alpha, but blunted the circadian increase in LPS-stimulated inflammatory cytokines observed in CON. The blunting effect in EX was significantly greater AT compared to BT. RE also resulted in an increase in plasma IL-6 which was significantly reduced AT (BT:PR=1.6+/-0.5, PO=2.8+/-0.5; AT:PR=1.8+/-0.3, PO=2.4+/-0.3). CONCLUSION:: We found that 10 weeks of moderate-high intensity RT: 1) reduced the systemic inflammatory milieu and 2) abrogated exercise-induced circulating IL-6 in previously sedentary elderly women.
PMID: 19927028 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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Full Text Sources:
• Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Swets Information Services

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I woke at 5am and worked out at 6am before going to the ER for a day shift. This is my favorite time of the day to workout. This was a great workout with a major metabolic effect and pump. I was nearly late for work because of the “carpet time” that followed this workout.

Leg Press- up 2lbs, TUL up 10 seconds
Compound Row-up 2lbs, TUL up 8 seconds
Chest Press- up 2lbs, TUL down 2 seconds
Pullover-up 2.5lbs, down 8 seconds
Overhead Press- up 2lbs, up 6 seconds.

I have written previously about how getting stronger via HIT workouts triggers the “active genotype” which results in a spontaneous rise in activity levels or NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Below is an abstract from a recent article that supports this notion.

J Pediatr. 2009 Oct 19. [Epub ahead of print]
High-Intensity Training Increases Spontaneous Physical Activity in Children: A Randomized Controlled Study.
Eiholzer U, Meinhardt U, Petrò R, Witassek F, Gutzwiller F, Gasser T.
Center for Pediatric Endocrinology Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Department of Biostatistics, Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that resistance training may increase spontaneous physical activity in children. STUDY DESIGN: Two junior ice hockey teams were randomly assigned to unchanged training schedules (team ZSC, 21 boys; mean age, 13.2 years) or to participate twice weekly in guided resistance training for 4 months (team GCK, 25 boys; mean age, 13.4 years). Spontaneous physical activity energy expenditure (SpAEE; 3-axial accelerometry for 7 days), muscle strength, and body composition (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) were measured at 0, 4, and 12 months. RESULTS: Baseline measures did not differ in the groups, except for higher leg and trunk strength in team ZSC. In the intervention group compared with the control group, SpAEE significantly (P PMID: 19846114 [PubMed - as supplied
Post your WOW’s (and your thoughts).

Doug McGuff

I did my “little 6” routine today. In payback for a week off, I am now working a lot in the ER and it does have an effect on my recovery. Not so much in my performance, but in how “below the baseline” I feel afterwards. I worked out in the morning, and worked a very busy afternoon shift, and boy could I feel it by the end of the night.

Calf Raise- essentially unchanged weight/TUL
MedX Ab- stable weight/TUL (at my long-term sticking point for this movement)
SS Systems Bicep- decided to use this today. This is Ken Hutchin’s machine with the coupled movement arm and fall-off cam. This was very effective, but a little difficult to coordinate the required body positioning (requires a lot of concentration, especially as you fatigue).
Tricep Pushdown- stable weight/TUL up a couple of seconds
Thick Bar Wrist flexion-stable weight/TUL up 4 seconds
Thick Bar Wrist extension-stable weight/TUL up 6 seconds.

Last Wednesday night I gave a lecture to my clients on hunter-gatherer diets. The turnout was great and the information was well-received. I had it professionally video-recorded and will probably offer this as a DVD for sale (with the handout included). Watch for it in the future. Part of what I discussed was vitamin D3 supplementation. Since I have been supplementing with 4,000-10,000 Units of D3 per day I have noted enhanced recovery and size response from my training. Apparently, skeletal muscle has both surface receptors and nuclear receptors for D3 that augment calcium flux during contraction (from surface receptors) and have steroid-like effects at the nuclear level WRT protein synthesis. This D3 supplementation is not really “supplementation” but is instead “augmentation” to levels that would be normal if we got normal sun exposure as we did in our evolutionary past. Check out www.vitamindcouncil.org for more information. Also, check out this abstract below for your consideration. Also, check out this article.

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2001 Dec 21;289(5):1150-6.
The vitamin D receptor mediates rapid changes in muscle protein tyrosine phosphorylation induced by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3).
Buitrago C, Vazquez G, De Boland AR, Boland R.
Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica and Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur., Bahía Blanca, San Juan 670, 8000, Argentina.
It has been recently shown that the fast non-genomic responses of 1,25(OH)(2)-vitamin D(3) [1,25(OH)(2)D(3)] in skeletal muscle cells involve tyrosine phosphorylation of MAP kinase (ERK1/2), c-Src kinase and the oncoprotein c-myc. In the present work, blockade of vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression (> or =80%) by preincubation of chick embryonic muscle cells with three different antisense oligonucleotides against the VDR mRNA (AS-VDR ODNs) significantly reduced (-94%) 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) stimulation of c-myc tyrosine phosphorylation and inhibited c-Src tyrosine dephosphorylation implying lack of c-Src activation by the hormone. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments revealed that 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) induces the formation of complexes between c-Src and c-myc, in agreement with the above results and previous studies showing hormone-dependent association between c-Src and tyrosine phosphorylated VDR and c-Src mediated c-myc tyrosine phosphorylation. MAPK tyrosine phosphorylation by 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) was affected to a lesser extent (-35%) by transfection with AS-VDR ODNs implying that both VDR-dependent and VDR-independent signalling mediate hormone stimulation of MAPK. These are the first results providing direct evidence on the participation of the VDR in non-genomic 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) signal transduction. Activation of tyrosine phosphorylation cascades through this mechanism may contribute to hormone regulation of muscle growth.
PMID: 11741312 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Publication Types, MeSH Terms

If you are like me, even the abstract is beyond my comprehension, but the gist of it is in line with something important going on. If you go to pubmed at www.nlm.nih.gov you can also check out the related articles.

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

Doug McGuff

Today’s workout was a Big 5 routine. I showed more improvement than I expected. This is a testament to enhanced recovery due to being off from the ER for the last 5 days.
Eric and Madeline (my kids) were in attendance and helped with record keeping. They did their own WOW’s as well.

MedX Leg Press- up 2lbs, up 10 seconds TUL
SS systems Pulldown- stable weight and TUL (no cam=recurrent sticking point)
Chest Press- up 2lbs, up 9 seconds TUL
Pullover- stable weight, up 11 seconds TUL
Overhead Press- up 2 lbs, up 8 seconds TUL

Participated in Rick Chartrand’s Skype Seminar/Roundtable yesterday. Lots of interesting discussion. Perhaps Rick can post a brief synopsis.

Here is a nifty little study I have found in the stack of paper beside my computer. Arthur Devany has written a lot about the fractal properties of the healthy heart beat. It seems that when healthy, the heart exhibits a random beat-to-beat variation that is fractal in nature. Disease states and protracted steady state activity have been shown to extinguish this healthy variation in heart rhythm, leaving a subject more prone to cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Here is a cool study that shows that strength training actually improves fractal properties of heart rate dymamics.

J Appl Physiol. 2008 Jul;105(1):109-13. Epub 2008 May 1.
Fractal scaling properties of heart rate dynamics following resistance exercise training.
Heffernan KS, Sosnoff JJ, Fahs CA, Shinsako KK, Jae SY, Fernhall B.
The Exercise and Cardiovascular Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. kheffer2@uiuc.edu
With aging and disease, there is a breakdown of the natural fractal-like organization of heart rate (HR). Fractal-like correlation properties of HR can be assessed with detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). A short-time scaling exponent (alpha(s)) value of 1 is associated with healthy HR dynamics, whereas values that deviate away from 1, in either direction, indicate fractal collapse. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of resistance exercise training (RT) on fractal correlation properties of HR dynamics. Resting ECG was collected at baseline, following a 4-wk time control period and 6 wk of RT (3 days per wk) in 34 men (23 +/- 1 years of age). Fractal properties of HR were assessed with DFA. There was no change in alpha(s) following either the time control period or RT (1.01 +/- 0.06 to 0.98 +/- 0.06 to 0.93 +/- 0.04, P > 0.05). Given the potential bidirectional nature of fractal collapse, subjects were retrospectively separated into two groups (higher alpha(s) and lower alpha(s)) on the basis of the initial alpha(s) by using cluster analysis. An interaction was detected for alpha(s) following RT (P < 0.05). There was no change in alpha(s) in either group following the time control, but alpha(s) increased following RT in the lower alpha(s) group (n = 18; 0.73 +/- 0.04 to 0.69 +/- 0.04 to 0.88 +/- 0.04) and alpha(s) decreased following RT in the higher alpha(s) group (n = 16; 1.20 +/- 0.04 to 1.24 +/- 0.04 to 0.98 +/- 0.04). In conclusion, RT improves fractal properties of HR dynamics.
PMID: 18450986 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Post your WOW’s…and your thoughts.

I was working day shift in the ER today, so I woke at 5am so that I could work out at 6am and then get to work by 7am. There was only one catch…I forgot to “fall back”. So I actually got up at 4am, worked out at 5am and showed up for work at 6am (I’m sure my night shift partner was thrilled). As I like to say… “trust me with your life”…doh!

My Little 6 was as follows

Med X Heel Raise- same weight and TUL
Med X abdominal –same weight and TUL
Nautilus Plate load Bicep- up 2.5 lbs/TUL down 20 seconds
Tri Push down- same weight and TUL
Thick Bar wrist curl-same weight, up 6 seconds
Thick Bar wrist extension-same weight, up 7 seconds.

I am now at the weight on the plateloader bicep and MedX abdominal where I always get stuck. The major issue seems to be the counterlever effect that occurs at this weight. The movement arm pulls me up from the seat to the extent that form gets compromised just trying to stay stable. This occurs in conjunction with fatigue and sticking point isssues which make progression very tough if not impossible. Like Ed Hovinak, I may have to back off on weight or select another movement. I will try a couple more rounds and see what happens. Perhaps it is time to start an A-B-C rotation as Al Coleman suggests.

Despite these issues, it was a great WOW.

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

Doug McGuff