IOL Strength and Conditioning

It’s fascinating to watch the turbulence around Gary Taubes’ new book, Why We Get Fat. The low-fat community is furious over his encouragement of fats in the diet; those on the science side are looking for a knock-out over his anti-calories in vs calories out stance, and even his old fans are put off by his switch from science writer to casual diet author.

In this new book, Taubes sets out to overview his work from Good Calories, Bad Calories, a monstrosity of a 640-page text that covered nutrition science front to back. While I appreciated the work, I didn’t make it past the quarter mark, and even though I meant to get back to it, so far that hasn’t happened. I’m probably not the only one, and for us, there’s Why We Get Fat.

It won’t surprise anyone to learn his main argument is that carbohydrates are the biggest issue in our fattening society, primarily because of the hormone insulin. We’re both genetically and conditionally acclimated to insulin, both on the production and the resistance side, and he believes regulating that single factor will make the difference between storing fat or not. Not how many calories we eat, but how we relate to insulin, and for the most part, that means using a low-carb diet.

I first did a low-carb diet when I was about 14, 1970, I guess, when the grapefruit diet was popular and most of my meals were a 33-cent packet of lunchmeat and a half-can of V-8. It worked, and I got lean. Six or eight years later, Atkins was gaining steam, right along with Jim Fixx, and both became a staple in my life. Much later, around 1990, the Zone—before there was a book, there were handouts, and I was right there to soak up the diet buzz, this time from Greg Glassman, a long, long time before Crossfit. All of these low-carb, insulin-regulating diets worked for me (long-term adherence is an entirely different issue, and no, Taubes doesn’t help with that part).

The one that worked the best? Adkins-style high fat, low carb. The higher fat is satiating, and most people are never hungry on it, and even with the extra fat, they accidentally go lower calorie without intention. Many people believe that’s why low-carb diets work. Taubes believes otherwise. His bottom line: Fat storage is regulated by insulin. Thus, a low-carb menu is the way to go.

Hey! Didn’t Dave and his group experiment and tell us this back in the ‘60s? Why, yes, I think they did!

In Taubes’ own words, here’s his overview of this new work: The Inanity of Overeating. And here’s a lengthly “Why We Get Fat” webinar, part one of eight:

This is Dan John’s new bulking guidebook for those who need to build strength and size. This is a 7×9 inch, spiral-bound lay-flat book consisting of 119 pages of text, followed by a 42-page, 6-week training log.

Tried and true, Dan describes exactly what’s to be done to add mass — what, when and why. Each week’s workout plan is laid out, and each day’s workout is preplanned, every rep scheduled, later to be documented in the fill-in-the-blanks log pages. Here’s an example of one of the log pages:

Dan has adjusted menu and supplement tweaks weekly to match the needs of the week. Once you read this short, clear manual, you’ll know exactly what to do and when to do it. All that’s left is for you to faithfully fill in the blanks of the log sheets and watch the scale climb.

Carefully priced at $19.95, this new guidebook is just what you need to pack an extra ten pounds of muscle on your meaty or not-so-meaty physique. Click here to order Dan John’s Mass Made Simple today.

Tim Ferriss
474 pages, plus 75 pages of appendices and a 16-page index

You don’t have to tell me—I already know there’s controversy in our field over Tim’s new book, stretching the truth to its absolute limits or beyond and, or perhaps especially, his self-promoting marketing methods. And these negatives have merit, as I’m certain my review partners would happily argue as long as I’d listen. But you still have to give a hat-tip to a regular gym rat who can make it to the New York Times bestseller list with what’s really just a collection of musclehead trial and error. In fact, the publisher in me is speechless at the concept—think of this, a guy writes a handful of articles developed from his elaborate training logs, does some interviews that he thickens up with personal commentary, and ends up with a bestseller solely on his social media efforts and through the force of his personality. A few years ago, this couldn’t have happened, and a few years before that, when the big publishing houses held all the cards, this book wouldn’t have been published at all. This is the power of the internet, and that alone is worth stopping to marvel.

I haven’t met Tim, but I had a personal interest in the book because the biggest chapter was about Gray Cook’s work, which Tim described as “for a high percentage of readers, it will be the most important,” plus there’s a good bit about Tracy Reifikind’s weight loss through kettlebell swings. And imagine my surprise when I got to page 172 and found a rehash of Bryon Chandler’s T-Handle, with Tim’s thanks to Dave for Byron’s work. Oh yes, I laughed, although Dave interrupted my giggling to tell me he did indeed weld one of these at SquareD back in the early ’60s… only he used it for pullovers instead of swings.

I also had a personal interest in the poorly named 4-Hour Body because it’s so rare for someone any of us might bump into at the gym to be a strong presence at a high level of publishing. I simply love that part of this story, can’t get enough of it. And when you think of it, a mainstream bestseller like this is going to introduce literally millions of people to things we take for granted. Most adult readers have never heard of a kettlebell, don’t have a clue what Pose running is and know even less about hormones. There’s value there, no question.

Dan John is leading a book discussion in the forum about Tim’s book, and his latest query was, What ‘sticks’ in this book? And here’s where I might question the value of the book for many people—will they use any of it, or will it  be just a scan on a Sunday afternoon. Now here, I’m just not sure, although I found the section on sleep issues particularly interesting. We’d love to hear your input in the discussion if you’ve tried some of his body hacks, or if you’re planning an experimental journey.

Now for my bottom line: Tim’s a smart guy, often funny, and he’s curious, meticulous, open and bold, an interesting combination that makes for fascinating reading. I suspect I won’t go to town on any of his ideas, but I’m glad to know about them, and I have them all handy here in this hefty tome if I ever want to revisit them. How many besides Tim will take long ice baths? Probably only the athletes who get paid a really lot of money and have no choice. Will his endurance training program get me to the Marine Corp Mud Run without any distance training… hmm… seems doubtful, but since I’m not going to give it a fair try, I guess I shouldn’t comment.

Joe Heiler over at Sports Rehab Expert.com just published his first quarter teleseminar schedule—what a terrific line-up! The speakers run the range from physical therapist, chiropractic doc and strength coaches, and all are at the forefront of their fields. Check this list:

Sue Falsone PT, Athletes’ Performance and LA Dodgers

Ron Hruska PT, Postural Restoration Institute

Dr. Mike Leahy DC, developer of the Active Release Technique

Thomas Myers LMT,  author of Anatomy Trains

Brian Grasso, founder of the International Youth Conditioning Association

Greg Roskopf, developer of MAT, Muscle Activation Technique

Brian Mulligan PT, developer of the Mulligan Concept, Mobilizations with Movement

Dr. Warren Hammer DC,  Graston Technique, Fascial Manipulation

Dan John, strength coach, author of Never Let Go

Gray Cook PT, developer of the FMS,  author of Movement

The lecture series kicks off Tuesday at 8pm and runs Tuesdays through March. You don’t need to watch live if your schedule’s packed; you can watch later or re-watch for a week, and the seminars are free after a simple email signup. Register here.

Boris Bachmann

If you are like me, a dabbler in the Olympic lifts, you are always looking for good DVDs for instruction. You’ve already bought a bunch of training hall videos from Ironmind and those were, of course, awesome. You’ve bought some books on the subject. You’ve had a little instruction from capable competitors and maybe even a coach here and here. Maybe you were like me and had a father who was an OLer, but you got sick of doing endless lifts with a broomstick…. In any case, you needed a little more – something that blended excellent modeling, explanation, and hands-on instruction with someone who wasn’t already a world-class athlete. Well, here’s a DVD for you – Dave and Laree Draper have put out a new DVD that fits the bill: Glenn Pendlay – Olympic Weightlifting Techniques.

Glenn has a humble way about him and his instruction is crisp and straight to the point. He details his teaching progressions for the Olympic lifts and gives clear rationale for their implementation. His emphasis on positions and transitions is something that as a lifter, I’ve given a lot of thought to, but could never really really “get” with the finer nuances of Olympic lifting – I think Glenn has really opened up some of those details to me with this work. The DVD will be an asset for both trainers and trainees alike who want to improve their snatches, cleans, and jerks, and, in my opinion, is a must-have for coaches who incorporate power-versions of the Olympic lifts for their athletes.

I’ll be honest with you, generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of workshops that are recorded and then sold as DVDs. Often film and sound quality is poor and there is a lot of “filler time” showing the workshop participants. That is NOT the case with any of the workshop DVDs that Dave and Laree Draper have produced. In Olympic Weightlifting Techniques you never get bored watching Glenn working with the participants. The two-hour set of two DVDs has an awesome balance of lessons from Glenn Pendlay, demonstrations by athlete Jon North, and short clips of hands-on instruction with trainees of varying levels of proficiency. I enjoyed all of the segments both as a teacher and learner.

At $44.50, the DVD is a great deal. If you have any interest in improving your own Olympic weightlifting technique, or in seeing how one great coach coaches them, I don’t think you’ll go wrong.