Archive for the ‘Research’ Category
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
How to Increase Productivity
I know some of you out there work 60, 70, 80 hour weeks. I know some of you also work 14,16,18 hour days. Hell, I’ve put in 36 hours straight writing computer code day and night to meet a deadline before. We all do it: we work too much!
Experts are finding out now that the best way to increase productivity, is to work less. That’s right, people who work 35-40 hours a week get the most out of their time. After the first 40 hours efficiency, speed, and quality all begin to deteriorate.
Companies that limit their employees’ working hours to 35 a week, typically have to employ less Quality Assurance (QA) testers, because their employees make far fewer mistakes. That is a multi-directional savings plan – save your employees health and save money by getting rid of half your QA staff (or just don’t hire them to begin with).
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Tags: brain, exercise, fitness, health, Healthy Lifestyle
Posted in Business, Healthy Lifestyle, Research | No Comments »
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
You may have read my post on occlusion training (or Kaatsu training) from a year ago. If not, the basic premise goes something like this:
Occlusion training refers to blood flow restriction (BFR) to small muscle groups like the biceps and triceps, then using single-joint resistance training with 20% of a 1 rep max. The results produced up to a 300% greater increase in strength and up to an 800% greater increase in muscle thickness, over the subjects who used traditional strength training methods.
The initial reported study had noted great results for BFR exercise in small muscle groups using single-joint exercises. For example they measured the results of occlusion training on the biceps after 2 weeks of biceps curls.
At Project Swole, we are more interested in the results on large muscle groups using multi-joint exercises, such as the bench press, squat, or deadlift.
So today’s question remains: does occlusion training increase the strength and size of large muscle groups during multi-joint exercises, when blood flow is restricted from the extremities?
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Tags: bodybuilding, build muscle, gain muscle, kaatsu, muscle gain, occlusion, weightlifting
Posted in Research, Weight Training | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
I saw this nifty little video on ESPN today about the effect of your grip on the trajectory of a baseball. Nomar Garciaparra gets wired up with electrodes to conduct this experiment. He used to be a pretty good ball player.
Essentially what happens, is this:
- Pitcher throws the ball. In this experiment it is a 90 MPH pitch.
- Bat comes in contact with the ball. Nomar swings the bat 67 MPH.
- Shockwaves from the contact between bat and ball travel down the bat to the hands.
- Some shockwaves are reflected and bounce back up the bat towards the ball.
- The ball leaves bat before shockwaves bounce back.
- Therefore your grip on a bat doesn’t directly influence the trajectory of the ball when hit.
- … with a couple possible exceptions.
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Tags: baseball, mlb, science, Sports
Posted in Research, Sports | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
OK, I might be stretching it a little bit with that post title, but the facts are the facts: coffee does have positive health benefits, the most recent being that coffee may cut down the risk of developing head and neck cancer.
The results were pooled from 9 other studies done throughout the years, and scientists feel confident in saying that the risk of developing head and neck cancer was 12 percent lower in people who drank coffee compared with those who didn’t.
In this case more is better, as people who drank more than 4 cups of coffee a day had a 33% less chance of developing the cancer. Now, I’m not trying to drink 5 cups of coffee a day, but I won’t feel too bad if I have 2 or even 3 cups.
Decaffeinated coffee and tea had no measure effect on decreasing the risk of head and neck cancer.
Read the research article here: Coffee and Tea Intake and Risk of Head and Neck Cancer
Tags: caffeine, cancer, coffee, head, healthy, healthy food, Healthy Lifestyle, neck
Posted in News of the Day, Research | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 4th, 2010
I recommend training with bands specifically in the Werewolf Training routines, but also in any routine you might currently be following.
Recent studies investigating the effects of training the bench press with added bands and chains, have confirmed that strength and power increased faster by using bands and chains than by using free weights alone.
The Study
In this 13 week study on the effects of training with elastic tension on the bench press, 11 men in their early 20s started with a 1 rep max (RM) baseline strength test.
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Tags: bands, chains, gain strength, powerlifting, strength, strength gain, strength training, weight traning, weightlifting
Posted in Exercise Equipment, Research, Weight Training | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Strength Training is Good For Kids!
It’s official! After many long years of arguing with fools, I am validated! Based on hundreds of studies and thousands of hours of research, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) have finally taken the position that age-appropriate resistance training is not only good for kids, but recommended.
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Tags: acsm, children, Kids, nsca, Research, strength, strength training, teenagers, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Kids, Research, Weight Training | 7 Comments »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Douglas Robb at HealthHabits posted the other day about the Occlusion/Kaatsu training method, which is popular in Japan. While not necessarily useful to me, I found it a very interesting read.
What Kaatsu Training Does
Kaatsu training looks like it can increase muscle hypertrophy significantly more than regular resistance training over an extremely short period of time. In fact the results of the studies show that 2 weeks of Kaatsu training increases muscle mass to a higher degree than 5 weeks of regular resistance training.
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Tags: build muscle, gain, gain muscle, kaatsu, mus, muscle gain, occlusion, weight, Weight Training, weightlifting
Posted in Research, Weight Training | 1 Comment »
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