Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.
McDougall Newsletter: June 2012 – The Paleo Diet is Uncivilized (And Unhealthy and Untrue)
I haven’t looked into all of the claims made in this article yet, or the sources making these claims, but based on a lot of the reading I’ve done in the past, I believe that a lot of it is true. The one problem I have with this article is that the author is pushing a book about becoming a “starchivore,” and that just sounds crazy to me. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t make a judgement based simply on the title, but after reading the Thrive books from Brendan Brazier, I’m not sure a high-starch diet is good for an athlete, or anyone else.
I posted an article last week that was very similar to this one, but the deadlift is such an important lift, that I don’t think it hurts to pound this info into your head some more.
If You Only Do One Type of Weight Training, Do Squats
I’m always trying to tell my friends and family that they should be including the squat into their workout routines. Some get it, others probably never will. I’ll just have to continue sending articles like this to them 😉
Ask The Ripped Dude: Cardio Before Or After Weights?
Obi Obadike, the author, recommends cardio after lifting weights because if you do it before, it can zap all of your energy and can make your weight lifting sessions miserable. I would agree. I’ve tried programs that suggested cardio before lifting weights and I definitely felt my weight training sessions suffer. He also claims that weight training will burn off glycogen stores first, then cardio will burn more fat.
Achieve Olympic feet with barefoot running
The study group in this one was small at only 18 highly trained runners, but it’s still worth reviewing and thinking about. The study showed that barefoot running resulted in the runners using less oxygen and it also increased their performance by 3%. One other interesting note is that barefoot runners are thought to have a lower risk of injury due to altering their strike pattern when hitting the ground because they tend to strike the ground with the mid-foot, which is more cushioned than the rest of the foot.
DIY : How to Build a Wrist Roller
I’ve actually thought about doing this before, but now that I’ve seen a functional example, I’ll probably finally give it a try. It shouldn’t cost more than a few bucks.
I was hoping an article like this would show up in my feed soon. This one tackles just about everything; hip pain, bar placement, increasing intensity, reps and midrange partials, contrast training, hybrid protocols, and gender differences. The only thing missing is a section on how stance effects the knees, which is what I’m really interested in.