It's useful to think sometimes about how much total time you have for training in a typical week and the optimal ways to break down that time into different types of training. For example, imagine someone with about 5 hours a week total to devote to training. They might do a single 45 minute session of steady state cardio (I promise to blog more about this someday, and explain why this might actually be useful, a position I used to dispute). They might do two 30 minute sessions of strength/ plyometric training. They might do 3 minutes of dynamic stretching, five days a week. Then they might spend 3 one hour periods doing skills training (or, probably better, spend 45 minutes on skill training four times a week, or 30 minutes 6 times a week!) Maybe one of those skill sessions (or parts of all of them, perhaps the final 5-10 minutes) could be used for high intensity interval training.
Looking at this hypothetical person, we can pretty quickly figure out percentages of time spent on each of these activities. For example, they spend 15% of their training time doing steady state cardio, 5% on stretching, 20% on strength work, etc. (In case you're wondering, I think that's actually a pretty good breakdown for most people, though I can't promise it would be optimal for everyone).
Now suppose that same person had to - for whatever reason - cut down their training time. Perhaps to just an hour a week - perhaps even down to half an hour, or 10 minutes. How should their training choices change?
With an example as extreme as 10 minutes it's obvious that we'd have to completely redesign things, but when the differences are smaller - going down to 4 hours or up to 8 or 10 - I think there's an inclination to try to maintain the same proportions. And that's probably wrong.
First, let's get one thing out of the way: if you think you only have 10 minutes per week to exercise you're probably wrong. There are lots of strategies for sneaking more time for exercise out of your day - putting a chinup bar in your house, brushing your teeth in horse stance, and so forth. But let's put that aside and assume that you've already pursued those strategies and you're only left with 10 minutes a week.
My recommendation? Stop doing karate.
That might seem strange for a karate blog, but bear with me. Being good at karate is wonderful, but your first responsibility is to yourself as a human being, not as a karateka. As you age, being able to throw a nice middle punch is great, but not nearly as important as being able to stand up after a fall, pick up your groceries, play with your grandkids, and have a cardiovascular system strong enough to keep going even if it experiences a shock - a good scare, an orgasm, whatever. Your middle punch won't help you if you're dead (this is not true if you're a bouncer or a corrections officer, but if that's your line of work you have no business training just 10 minutes a week!)
10 minutes per week is barely enough to maintain a moderate level of fitness (I'm assuming here that your life is otherwise fairly sedentary; if it's not, then we have another story). And let's face it - it's not enough time to get very good at karate.
So what should one do in 10 minutes a week? The training that gives us the biggest bang for the buck - if we want to keep ourselves out of the hospital and out of the ground - is heavy strength training. I'd say go for 3 sets of 5 of some kind of heavy deadlift. You can do them one legged or two, use any variation you'd like - in fact, I'd say probably do them 'wrong', lower your hips a lot at the bottom, almost as if you're squatting (get your ass close to your heels when you grip the bar). It will reduce the weight you pull but really increase the range of motion in your hips. You'll get plenty of grip work (don't want to starve to death because you can't open the mayonnaise jar), lots of core stabilization, posterior chain strengthening, and build up all the muscles supporting your spine. Plus, you'll be working the biggest muscles in the body (hips, legs, lats), which will give you the maximal metabolic effect (more muscle = higher metabolism = less fat, fewer problems with glucose regulation, etc. etc. etc.) And, last but not least, you'll get some nice bone density outcomes. You're never going to get osteoperosis with a 300 lb deadlift. Just can't happen.
Don't like deadlifts? Try kettlebell swings. Not the same, but lots of crossover benefits. Have a little extra time? Try this conditioning trick: stand on a soft-ish surface, maybe a yoga mat or a wrestling mat or even an old futon. Fall to the ground - break it as well as you can. Then stand back up. Alternate falling to your left and to your right. Repeat for 2 minutes. You want to live long and be healthy? Be strong and learn how to fall without getting hurt. Don't think it matters? Visit a local nursing home and walk around for 15 minutes. Then come back and we'll talk.
I'd say you probably shouldn't spend any time on actual karate unless you have more than an hour a week to train. That is, your first hour of exercise (I don't mean the first hour on Sunday, I mean the first hour we're counting) should be dedicated strength training. Keep your muscle and bones healthy. If you have 2 hours a week, still spend 1 hour of it strength training, but add in dynamic stretching and skill training sessions for the second hour. And, if you have it, the third. And even if you have 10 hours a week to train, the amount of dedicated strength training you should need to do is probably never going to get above 2 hours, and maybe less than that - do very hard things, do them quickly, get it done. As you have more time to train you can spend proportionally more time working on skills. The nervous system doesn't adapt the way muscles and bones do - it benefits from lots and lots of practice, while muscles just get worn down from too much hard strength work.
Strength training and conditioning should't represent a fixed percentage of your exercise time; instead, you should prioritize them above everything else, but only do the amount that you need to get their benefits (bone density, resistance to injury, looking good naked, healthy metabolic function), and spend the bulk of the time you have beyond that on skills and a little cardio (to be discussed more in the future!)
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Head Contact? Yes... No... What was the question?
I'm a big proponent of jiyu kumite, or free fighting. Why? I suspect many people who like free fighting will say they like it because it's more like "real fighting" than drills or preset techniques - that it's a better simulation of self defense situations. To be honest, I'm not sure I buy that. In order to free fight safely you have to restrict the distance, the techniques used, and the equipment (i.e. wear protection) enough that I'm not sure it actually applies at all to self defense, and I suspect that well designed drills can actually do a better job of teaching self defense. But I could be wrong.
Still, free fighting is awesome because:
- It's fun. It's fun the way a tennis match or ping pong or a football game is fun - there's something inherently more fun about having to respond to an unpredictable environment, and competing with another person, that for most people is always going to be lacking in kihon or kata practice. And fun isn't just a "nice bonus" - if a workout/ training regimen is fun you're more likely to stick to it, and as they say, the workout routine you stick with is the best workout routine.
- Because free sparring is so chaotic it's going to spur on neural development you won't get otherwise. Sparring is a never ending set of new problems to solve - all quickly and in three dimensions. That kind of practice is going to cause your brain to stay sharp, to develop new connections, in a way that repeating the same old thing can't. That's not just fun, it's a huge benefit for long term health.
- Free sparring trains muscle groups in ways that basic training can't. Getting out of the way of being hurt - or at least hit hard - is going to make you exert more force, in more random directions, than you ever will doing solitary practice. Notice how sore your legs are after some free sparring - everyone will work harder, more intensely, and in more varied ways, when motivated by an impending ass kicking, than they will when training alone.
Now, there are many ways to free fight. Free fighting has to have rules and restrictions - without them it would be too dangerous and everyone would get maimed within a few sessions (imagine free fighting without protection, allowing groin shots, eye pokes, rabbit punches, ground and pound...)
Then the questions is: what rules and restrictions should you have?
Here's the basic tension:
- The freer the fighting the more fun it is. Imagine sparring using only jabs to the body. All the time. Now think about how you'd feel if you got to use your back hand to punch the body - I bet it would be like getting out of prison. The more open the sparring, the more complex the strategies involved, the more possibilities - different tactics, different techniques - open up, the more fun and neural development you'll have.
- The freer the fighting the closer it is to "real fights" and the more applicable it is for self defense. If you only train without groin shots you'll be ill prepared to defend against that guy in a bar kicking you in the groin.
- If you compete in a fighting sport your sparring better include everything you'll see on the mat/ in the cage/octagon/whatever. If you want, watch an ill prepared kyokushin or taekwondo guy do kickboxing for the first time and eat a ton of punches to the head. Not pretty. If you spar without ground fighting, head contact, or whatever, you'll probably be ill prepared to deal with those things.
- However, the freer the fighting the more likely it is that you'll be maimed doing it.
Here's the sad truth: getting punched hard in, say, the stomach, hurts. Getting kicked in the leg hurts. Armbars hurt. And these things happen when sparring. After every good sparring session I'm wearing a set of bruises for days.
BUT when you get punched in the stomach, even if it leaves a bruise, the long term consequences are negligible. I've had a lot of bruises on my arms and chest over the years - once they healed all that was left was a memory.
On the other hand, every time you get hit in the head hard enough to make you see stars, or black out, even for a second, or get knocked out, you're probably doing permanent long term damage to your brain.
Think about that. Every slap to the ear, every face punch, every fall that has you experience flash dizziness - each of these events is probably doing irreversible damage to your brain.
Talk to an old boxer. Or former football player. Or a soccer player who heads the ball. Or anyone who's been hit in the head a bunch of times. Pro sports are starting to try to come to terms with this reality, that we have every reason to think that the damage from even minor concussions is cumulative and basically never heals. Symptoms include severe depression, memory loss, and a bunch of other shit you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. There's a reason people are so worried about MMA fighter like Chuck Liddell who get knocked out many times - current medical knowledge seems to say that those guys will never be the same, never recover full neurological function.
Does that mean nobody should train with head contact? Well, I wouldn't say that.
If you have a serious chance to make a living as a fighter then you have to think long and hard about this. I'm not going to tell you not to train with head contact - you'll need to do so, at least somewhat, in order to survive actual fights. I would say that you should NEVER train Chute Boxe style (those guys regularly knock each other out in practice) regardless of your career goals. And you need to think long and hard about the fact that your profession - for however long it lasts - will absolutely result in permanent brain damage, which will impair all sorts of things for the rest of your life. I'm not going to say it's not worth it, that's a personal decision, but it's worth thinking about.
If you're a police officer, corrections officer, bouncer, military dude, or someone else who has a serious need to be in real fights on a regular basis, then you have to figure this out. You can't count on being able to deal with a punch to the face when the first one you ever see is during an actual prison riot thrown by a guy who is actually trying to kill you.
But if you're not one of those guys - if you're a recreational martial artist, in it for the fun and the health benefits and for something cool to do - you might want to rethink allowing even small amounts of head contact in your practice. The damage from head trauma is subtle, insidious, and cumulative.
In summary: head contact makes sparring more fun and more vigorous, but shots to the head - probably even relatively mild ones, certainly hard shots - cause permanent and cumulative brain damage. If you're training to acquire skills that might establish you professionally or are likely to save your life, that's one thing. If you're training for fun and fitness, go full contact to the body but leave your head untouched. Yes, your training will be less "realistic," possibly less authentic, and possibly less fun, but you'll be much, much better off in the long term.
Osu.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Why Marriages are Just like Black Belts
I started a new blog with my ramblings & thoughts that are not martial arts related. Thought this post was worthy of cross-promotion:
http://philosophydujoe.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-wedding-is-like-black-belt-exactly.html
http://philosophydujoe.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-wedding-is-like-black-belt-exactly.html
Monday, March 4, 2013
When Life Interferes...
I haven't been very active as a blogger lately... which is no coincidence, as I haven't been training much, and this IS a training blog!
To make a long, complicated story short: my marriage ended in March 2011. I moved out at the end of that month. At the end of November 2011 I moved again, this time to a different city, from which I commuted to see my kids. I started a brand new career in a completely new field in which I had no experience whatsoever.
In May 2012 I moved again, to Grand Island, NY, which is the same state but 400 miles away. I was in a very stressful relationship (no blame, just a tough situation). I was tele-commuting, living 7 hours away from my children, and in a very tough relationship trying to make it work. I failed.
In September 2012 I moved back to Brooklyn, NY - still 3+ hours away from my children, but the same job, and a great situation. Started yet another relationship which continues, but with a woman who has 2 kids of her own, which adds a dimension of stress and strain.
I don't mean to whine - I'm ridiculously happy and have had ridiculously good luck in my recent life. I have wonderful kids, an awesome job I love, and a fantastic relationship. BUT it would be silly to pretend that my stress level has been anything other than through the roof the past 2 yeas.
I hope you, my reader, never goes through tough times. However, the odds are that many of you will, at least occasionally. Here's my advice regarding training during times of life duress:
1. Don't overdo it. Progress is possible, but slow, when you're under a ton of stress. Give yourself permission to do light workouts, to have periods of stagnation, and to not push 100% during every workout. Your cortisol levels are already elevated, killing yourself in the dojo is not going to be productive, it will just lead to sickness, injury, and/or overtraining.
2. Focus on Strength. Say that, like me, you're 190 lbs, and between moves, working long hours, and so forth you don't have time to train properly - perhaps you only do 2 workouts a week, and you have to choose between cardio & strength. Suppose you don't do any cardio, and only strength train, for 6 months. You'll probably lose a chunk of your aerobic capacity - VO2 max, whatever. Sad. You'd have to train hard for a month or two to recover all that aerobic conditioning.
Now suppose that instead you kept up your cardio but cut back on the strength training. You'd lose muscle mass, which would most likely lead to an increase in fat mass as your metabolic rate slowed. You'd very possibly lose bone density as well, which would take a lot of time to get back. Skip strength training for 6 months and if you're old enough you could be looking at a year to get back to where you were.
The adaptions from endurance training come much more quickly and max out much faster than those from strength and power training. So if you HAVE to skip one modality for a period of time make it cardio!
Here's another tip: Do at least 5 or so of every kick you know, full power, at least twice a week. Kicks are hard on your body and the soreness will be crippling if you come back to training after not throwing any for a half a year (trust me!)
3. Sneak In Mini-Workouts. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Whatever your ideal workout program is, you're very probably going to fall short of it. Be happy that you're doing anything (remember, your peers are on a couch eating Doritos). Do 2 minute kettlebell workouts if that's all you have time for (5 clean & jerks per arm, repeat 2X - 2 minutes for a full body workout). Super short workouts done at high intensity can do wonders for maintaining strength levels without requiring a serious commitment of time.
4. Work out at home. Try to have enough equipment around your home or workspace to get those sneak workouts in - I keep a 54 lb kettlebell next to my desk and a chinup bar in the nearest doorway. Total cost around $150, and I use them almost every day.
5. Dynamic Stretching! You can maintain your flexibility on a schedule of 10-20 front swings per leg and 10-20 side swings per leg every day, which probably takes a total of less than 3 minutes. If you don't do this, and lead a typical sedentary lifestyle, your range of motion in the hips will drop faster than a Republican's credibility on gender issues.
6. Stress is no excuse to eat crap. The ironic thing about stressful times is that our ability to resist crappy food is lowered but the consequences of eating that crappy food is higher. When you're stressed you're ever more likely to store excess calories as fat, you're going to be more inflamed already, and generally you'll suffer more from a bad diet than you would have otherwise.
I'm not going to pretend that sticking to a clean diet when you're super stressed is easy - it isn't. I ate quite a bit of crap and put on some weight in the past 2 years (it's mostly gone now, it comes off when I'm happy!) But you have to just work to minimize the damage. Remember that you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet and workouts won't add nutrients to you - you have to eat well, at least most of the time, or everything will just get worse. Being stressed is bad - being stressed AND inflamed AND fat is not better!
Take Home: You might want to charge on, full steam ahead, when under serious life stress, but that's probably not going to happen. If you can't, accept your limitations and at least minimize the setbacks so you're set to make huge progress when things settle down!
To make a long, complicated story short: my marriage ended in March 2011. I moved out at the end of that month. At the end of November 2011 I moved again, this time to a different city, from which I commuted to see my kids. I started a brand new career in a completely new field in which I had no experience whatsoever.
In May 2012 I moved again, to Grand Island, NY, which is the same state but 400 miles away. I was in a very stressful relationship (no blame, just a tough situation). I was tele-commuting, living 7 hours away from my children, and in a very tough relationship trying to make it work. I failed.
In September 2012 I moved back to Brooklyn, NY - still 3+ hours away from my children, but the same job, and a great situation. Started yet another relationship which continues, but with a woman who has 2 kids of her own, which adds a dimension of stress and strain.
I don't mean to whine - I'm ridiculously happy and have had ridiculously good luck in my recent life. I have wonderful kids, an awesome job I love, and a fantastic relationship. BUT it would be silly to pretend that my stress level has been anything other than through the roof the past 2 yeas.
I hope you, my reader, never goes through tough times. However, the odds are that many of you will, at least occasionally. Here's my advice regarding training during times of life duress:
1. Don't overdo it. Progress is possible, but slow, when you're under a ton of stress. Give yourself permission to do light workouts, to have periods of stagnation, and to not push 100% during every workout. Your cortisol levels are already elevated, killing yourself in the dojo is not going to be productive, it will just lead to sickness, injury, and/or overtraining.
2. Focus on Strength. Say that, like me, you're 190 lbs, and between moves, working long hours, and so forth you don't have time to train properly - perhaps you only do 2 workouts a week, and you have to choose between cardio & strength. Suppose you don't do any cardio, and only strength train, for 6 months. You'll probably lose a chunk of your aerobic capacity - VO2 max, whatever. Sad. You'd have to train hard for a month or two to recover all that aerobic conditioning.
Now suppose that instead you kept up your cardio but cut back on the strength training. You'd lose muscle mass, which would most likely lead to an increase in fat mass as your metabolic rate slowed. You'd very possibly lose bone density as well, which would take a lot of time to get back. Skip strength training for 6 months and if you're old enough you could be looking at a year to get back to where you were.
The adaptions from endurance training come much more quickly and max out much faster than those from strength and power training. So if you HAVE to skip one modality for a period of time make it cardio!
Here's another tip: Do at least 5 or so of every kick you know, full power, at least twice a week. Kicks are hard on your body and the soreness will be crippling if you come back to training after not throwing any for a half a year (trust me!)
3. Sneak In Mini-Workouts. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Whatever your ideal workout program is, you're very probably going to fall short of it. Be happy that you're doing anything (remember, your peers are on a couch eating Doritos). Do 2 minute kettlebell workouts if that's all you have time for (5 clean & jerks per arm, repeat 2X - 2 minutes for a full body workout). Super short workouts done at high intensity can do wonders for maintaining strength levels without requiring a serious commitment of time.
4. Work out at home. Try to have enough equipment around your home or workspace to get those sneak workouts in - I keep a 54 lb kettlebell next to my desk and a chinup bar in the nearest doorway. Total cost around $150, and I use them almost every day.
5. Dynamic Stretching! You can maintain your flexibility on a schedule of 10-20 front swings per leg and 10-20 side swings per leg every day, which probably takes a total of less than 3 minutes. If you don't do this, and lead a typical sedentary lifestyle, your range of motion in the hips will drop faster than a Republican's credibility on gender issues.
6. Stress is no excuse to eat crap. The ironic thing about stressful times is that our ability to resist crappy food is lowered but the consequences of eating that crappy food is higher. When you're stressed you're ever more likely to store excess calories as fat, you're going to be more inflamed already, and generally you'll suffer more from a bad diet than you would have otherwise.
I'm not going to pretend that sticking to a clean diet when you're super stressed is easy - it isn't. I ate quite a bit of crap and put on some weight in the past 2 years (it's mostly gone now, it comes off when I'm happy!) But you have to just work to minimize the damage. Remember that you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet and workouts won't add nutrients to you - you have to eat well, at least most of the time, or everything will just get worse. Being stressed is bad - being stressed AND inflamed AND fat is not better!
Take Home: You might want to charge on, full steam ahead, when under serious life stress, but that's probably not going to happen. If you can't, accept your limitations and at least minimize the setbacks so you're set to make huge progress when things settle down!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Overeem, TRT, and Drug Testing
If you don't follow MMA you might want to skip this post.
I'm writing this just as news of Alistair Overeem's failed Testosterone: Epitestosterone test are coming to light. As of right now his B sample hasn't been tested, nothing's been confirmed - as far as I know this is a huge mistake (not that I think it is).
Having said that, I've already read a few comments (some posted by professional reporters) that indicate that the authors don't understand this test or what it means. I thought I'd explain.
We're all probably familiar with testosterone, a sex hormone produced in naturally higher levels in males than in females. Testosterone positively influences muscle hypertophy (how big your muscles can be), recovery (how fast you can recover from a tough workout), mood, health, and a bunch of other things. People's levels vary naturally - men almost always have higher levels than women, levels tend to peak in early twenties or so then decline gradually, and levels can be affected by your genes, stress levels, sleep, nutrition, various legal herbs, and even looking at naked women (seriously). How much those things can influence T levels is relative - if you're at a 400, watching a bunch of porn and getting a good night's sleep might get you up to 500, but it won't get you to 1200.
Incidentally, one way to permanently decrease your T levels is repeated head trauma. Think about that in terms of fightsports for a moment. And one of the most serious consequences (in my opinion) of depressed T is increased risk for depression (along with heart disease)... think about that the next time a former fighter commits suicide.
So we can all imagine that if you're going to compete in almost any sport that involves strength and/or power, higher T levels, at least up to a point, are going to be beneficial. They'll allow you to train harder, recover faster, hold more muscle in the face of high stress, and generally be, all else being equal, a better athlete. How do you get higher levels of T? Sleep, nutrition, porn - they'll all help a little bit, but the most effective way is to add testosterone to your system - inject it, use a cream, whatever.
Of course, that's against the rules. Mostly. There's an exception - Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT).
You see, if a normal joe (like me) has low T levels - that is, significantly lower than those of an average male of our age (roughly mid-600's are average) - we can go to our doctor and get a nice legal prescription for injectable T or a T cream. Boom, levels go back up, but, depending on how much we take, our levels may not be very high - they may still be on the low side - just higher than they were. If your T level is 200 and you use a cream or injections to get up to 500 your T level is still lower than the average guy on the street.
Now to compete in MMA there are all kinds of hoops you have to jump through - just because something is legal doesn't mean it's okay with the athletic commission (see Nick Diaz, marijuana). They'll accept a fighter on TRT if they go to certain doctors, file specific forms, tell them ahead of time, etc. - like I said, there are hoops to jump through, but the use of TRT isn't banned outright. In theory, they would test you to make sure you weren't on a high enough dose of TRT to give you a competitive advantage. Basically, if I can show them that I'm using TRT to bring my 200 up to an 800 (still well within the range of "normal"), I'd be okay, but if I bring my 200 up to a 2000 I wouldn't be allowed into the cage.
There ARE tests that check your overall T levels - blood tests, not urine as far as I know - but that's not what Overeem failed.
You see, along with T, your body makes another hormone called Epitestosterone (E) that isn't very interesting - it doesn't do too much that we're aware of, and doesn't seem to help with athletic performance. About the only reason we do care about E is that humans tend to make about as much of it as they do of T - in other words, for pretty much everybody, whatever your T levels are, your E levels will be almost exactly the same. Have a lot of T (say, you're a teenager watching porn)? You'll have a lot of E. Have a low T? Low E. The ratio stays at around 1:1. But what if you inject a bunch of extra T? Well, the ratio gets out of whack, because it's the stuff your body makes that comes out in a 1:1 ratio - when you inject extra T there's no feedback loop that has your body ramp up its production of E.
Overeem's reported T:E ratio was 14:1. If that's true it ONLY means that he had a lot of artificial T swimming around in his system. As far as I know he doesn't have a TRT exemption - that information may be available - but we don't actually know if his T levels were really high OR if his natural T level was ridiculously low an he used supplemental T to get his overall levels to a high-normal range. I'm not saying that is the case - I'm just saying that we don't know if his T levels were very high, offering him some competitive advantage - only that he was injecting (or smearing through cream) extra T.
Now if Overeem hadn't applied for a TRT exemption and was still applying/ injecting extra T then it doesn't matter if his overall levels were higher than normal or not - he broke the rules, he'll be punished for it.
Please note that I'm not arguing in favor of the current regulations (or against them), I only think we should be clear on what the various test results actually mean. I'm a little sympathetic to the view that the athletes should be allowed to drug up however much they want to - we're not seriously worried about their health, are we? If we cared about the long term health of athletes they'd all be in headgear, if combat sports were even legal. Forget football. Or marathon running. High level sports is not good for people!
One last note - if you're an amateur athlete buying illegal drugs to improve your performance then you're an idiot. Overeem makes hundreds of thousands of dollars to risk his health - if you're an accountant who trains in martial arts for fun, to risk your health at 60 for your hobby is just dumb. When you buy steroids from some guy at your gym you don't know what's in them, the purity level, etc. Now if you have low (or low-ish) T levels and you want to get TRT from your doctor, that's another story (the pharmacy will sell you real T, no rat poison in it). I don't claim to be an expert on Hormone Replacement Therapy, but I suspect that artificically replacing your T levels back to where they were when you were in your mid-20's will have only positive side effects for most people (but I'm NOT positive about this).
So, stay away from illegal drugs, but consider legal ones. Osu!
I'm writing this just as news of Alistair Overeem's failed Testosterone: Epitestosterone test are coming to light. As of right now his B sample hasn't been tested, nothing's been confirmed - as far as I know this is a huge mistake (not that I think it is).
Having said that, I've already read a few comments (some posted by professional reporters) that indicate that the authors don't understand this test or what it means. I thought I'd explain.
We're all probably familiar with testosterone, a sex hormone produced in naturally higher levels in males than in females. Testosterone positively influences muscle hypertophy (how big your muscles can be), recovery (how fast you can recover from a tough workout), mood, health, and a bunch of other things. People's levels vary naturally - men almost always have higher levels than women, levels tend to peak in early twenties or so then decline gradually, and levels can be affected by your genes, stress levels, sleep, nutrition, various legal herbs, and even looking at naked women (seriously). How much those things can influence T levels is relative - if you're at a 400, watching a bunch of porn and getting a good night's sleep might get you up to 500, but it won't get you to 1200.
Incidentally, one way to permanently decrease your T levels is repeated head trauma. Think about that in terms of fightsports for a moment. And one of the most serious consequences (in my opinion) of depressed T is increased risk for depression (along with heart disease)... think about that the next time a former fighter commits suicide.
So we can all imagine that if you're going to compete in almost any sport that involves strength and/or power, higher T levels, at least up to a point, are going to be beneficial. They'll allow you to train harder, recover faster, hold more muscle in the face of high stress, and generally be, all else being equal, a better athlete. How do you get higher levels of T? Sleep, nutrition, porn - they'll all help a little bit, but the most effective way is to add testosterone to your system - inject it, use a cream, whatever.
Of course, that's against the rules. Mostly. There's an exception - Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT).
You see, if a normal joe (like me) has low T levels - that is, significantly lower than those of an average male of our age (roughly mid-600's are average) - we can go to our doctor and get a nice legal prescription for injectable T or a T cream. Boom, levels go back up, but, depending on how much we take, our levels may not be very high - they may still be on the low side - just higher than they were. If your T level is 200 and you use a cream or injections to get up to 500 your T level is still lower than the average guy on the street.
Now to compete in MMA there are all kinds of hoops you have to jump through - just because something is legal doesn't mean it's okay with the athletic commission (see Nick Diaz, marijuana). They'll accept a fighter on TRT if they go to certain doctors, file specific forms, tell them ahead of time, etc. - like I said, there are hoops to jump through, but the use of TRT isn't banned outright. In theory, they would test you to make sure you weren't on a high enough dose of TRT to give you a competitive advantage. Basically, if I can show them that I'm using TRT to bring my 200 up to an 800 (still well within the range of "normal"), I'd be okay, but if I bring my 200 up to a 2000 I wouldn't be allowed into the cage.
There ARE tests that check your overall T levels - blood tests, not urine as far as I know - but that's not what Overeem failed.
You see, along with T, your body makes another hormone called Epitestosterone (E) that isn't very interesting - it doesn't do too much that we're aware of, and doesn't seem to help with athletic performance. About the only reason we do care about E is that humans tend to make about as much of it as they do of T - in other words, for pretty much everybody, whatever your T levels are, your E levels will be almost exactly the same. Have a lot of T (say, you're a teenager watching porn)? You'll have a lot of E. Have a low T? Low E. The ratio stays at around 1:1. But what if you inject a bunch of extra T? Well, the ratio gets out of whack, because it's the stuff your body makes that comes out in a 1:1 ratio - when you inject extra T there's no feedback loop that has your body ramp up its production of E.
Overeem's reported T:E ratio was 14:1. If that's true it ONLY means that he had a lot of artificial T swimming around in his system. As far as I know he doesn't have a TRT exemption - that information may be available - but we don't actually know if his T levels were really high OR if his natural T level was ridiculously low an he used supplemental T to get his overall levels to a high-normal range. I'm not saying that is the case - I'm just saying that we don't know if his T levels were very high, offering him some competitive advantage - only that he was injecting (or smearing through cream) extra T.
Now if Overeem hadn't applied for a TRT exemption and was still applying/ injecting extra T then it doesn't matter if his overall levels were higher than normal or not - he broke the rules, he'll be punished for it.
Please note that I'm not arguing in favor of the current regulations (or against them), I only think we should be clear on what the various test results actually mean. I'm a little sympathetic to the view that the athletes should be allowed to drug up however much they want to - we're not seriously worried about their health, are we? If we cared about the long term health of athletes they'd all be in headgear, if combat sports were even legal. Forget football. Or marathon running. High level sports is not good for people!
One last note - if you're an amateur athlete buying illegal drugs to improve your performance then you're an idiot. Overeem makes hundreds of thousands of dollars to risk his health - if you're an accountant who trains in martial arts for fun, to risk your health at 60 for your hobby is just dumb. When you buy steroids from some guy at your gym you don't know what's in them, the purity level, etc. Now if you have low (or low-ish) T levels and you want to get TRT from your doctor, that's another story (the pharmacy will sell you real T, no rat poison in it). I don't claim to be an expert on Hormone Replacement Therapy, but I suspect that artificically replacing your T levels back to where they were when you were in your mid-20's will have only positive side effects for most people (but I'm NOT positive about this).
So, stay away from illegal drugs, but consider legal ones. Osu!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Podcasts to Listen to and Fiction to Read
First of all, a deep apology for not posting lately. Between training for my new job, a heavy travel schedule, and trying to get enough sleep I just haven't had time. I've done hardly any formal karate training in almost two months either!
A couple of new things to keep your eyes (or ears) on:
If you follow kickboxing (and if you don't, you should) there are 2 podcasts coming out that you should be listening to. The first is Warman's Kickfighting Show, and despite the slightly World of Warcraft sounding title it's very sober, intelligent discussion of kick-sports (kickboxing and Muay Thai). The second is the podcast associated with the lovely LiverKick site. Search the site for podcasts and you'll see their own listed. It's very good coverage of the sport.
Another absolutely wonderful site if you're at all interested in fighting sports is Fights Gone By. It's supposed to be coverage of classic fights, and it has wonderful links to classic fights in boxing, kickboxing, and MMA, but what makes it really special is the in-depth analysis of the fighting techniques used. It's the kind of site where you'll see a Mirko Cro Cop head kick, but unlike other places, it comes with exhaustive analysis of all the things Cro Cop does to make that head kick land.
Now any coverage of fighting sports is going to have some, but not perfect, relevance to unregulated combat. If you're into self defense you can't use kickboxing or boxing techniques as they are used in the ring exactly - gloves and tape and rules change the game. But a lot of the ideas do cross over to some extent, and if you enjoy fight sports for their own sake you'll enjoy them much more if you better understand what's going on. As wonderful as a big knockout it, it's much more enjoyable when you can see how the fighter set it up, got his opponent's defenses down, etc.
If you're interested reading more about conditioning and strength training while I'm not posting anything new hit my blogroll - especially Brett Contreras' site - I consistently find his posts entertaining and educational. If you're willing to buy some products (there's stuff on the site worth checking out for free too) definitely consider 8 Weeks Out, he has a ton of really good material that's changing the way the strength world is looking at endurance training.
I've mentioned before that I have a weakness for martial arts related fiction. I love material ranging from books that center on martial arts using characters to movies with MA themes to American and Asian comics (manga and manhua) that center on MA sports or MA using characters. Loving martial arts and liking MA fiction go together like liking science and liking science fiction - lots of science lovers and scientists love sci fi, lots of them hate it. A lot depends on how critical you are - how good you are at suspending disbelief when you read/ watch the stuff. If a character dodging bullets really annoys you (because it is so unrealistic) you're not going to love Dragonball. You might like Hajime no Ippo, though - that's a fairly realistic series about a Japanese boxer - no bullet dodging, no energy beams, just opponents with strong jabs or who fight left handed (both of which, you know, actually happen).
I'm not going to recommend any movies here - well, I lied, watch both Black Belt and High Kick Girl, I loved both, and anything starring Tony Jaa. Other people do a much more comprehensive job of reviewing/ recommending MA movies online (try Kung Fu Cinema for reviews, news, etc.).
For books I'm a fan of Steve Perry (not the one you're thinking of) - he's a real life silat practitioner and his books have very strong MA themes. His blog has links on the side to e-book versions of all his stuff. Start with The Man Who Never Missed. It's sci fi, and maybe it's not great literature, but they're fun reads and feature lots of MA action. Another guy who used to write a LOT about MA is Eric Lustbader. I grew up on his books - he broke out with The Ninja - and wrote a ton of bestsellers about MA in modern times. It's pretty much all trash, but entertaining trash. He's moved away from the MA themes in the last 15 years or so, so if that's what you like, start with his older work.
On the American comic side I'm mostly a reader of Marvel comics (nothing against other companies). The best MA comics are from the past - if you can read (or torrent) a set of Master of Kung Fu comics from the late 70's that title was surprisingly good. I liked the Iron Fist comic that was published just a few years ago - very strong MA themes - but most of the time Iron Fist is just another superhero who happens to use MA, there aren't really much in the way of MA plotlines in his stories.
If you really want to hit the motherload of MA themes comics, you have to go to Asian sourced stuff. There's a lot of material, and it really runs the gamut in terms of realism (from bullied teenagers taking up MA as an after school hobby to planet destroying aliens kung fu fighting) and seriousness (from very serious, like Holyland, all the way to ridiculous).
The cool thing about reading manga or manhua (manga are Japanese, manhua are Korean, and the manhua are usually read left to right, the Japanese stuff right to left) is that you can read/ sample all the good titles for free. Many are unavailable in English (in any legal/ official form, no matter what you're willing to pay), so there's a dedicated online community of scanlators (scan + translate = scanlate) who scan the comics, put in English words, and release the results for free. You can bittorrent the results, or, more easily, there are online readers where each page is a web page. Click on the page and it takes you to the next page.
The legality of these sites is sort of questionable. If you're morally opposed to using them, I understand, but bear in mind that many of these series are otherwise unavailable to English speakers. If I read Holyland on Mangafox.com, I'm not taking money away from the author - I literally can't buy that title in any store in a format I can use.
I'd rather not link to these sites. Go to google and put in "read [titleX] online" and you'll find a half dozen sites that show it.
If you want something realistic (no superpowers) try Holyland, All Rounder Meguru, Shamo (Shamo is really, really, dark and not suitable for children), and Hajime no Ippo. There are also a bunch of manga based loosely on historical samurai/ ninja stuff, and some are very realistic (some not so much).
If you're okay with some level of "super" abilities there are more options. For historical/ fantasy stuff (not set in a world like ours) Naruto's the best, Hunter x Hunter, Gamaran, Basilisk, and Samurai Deeper Kyo. For stuff in a modern setting try The Breaker, Baki (3 different series, same character), Tough (2 series), Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru, Tower of God, the God of High School (much better than it sounds).
I'm sure I'm leaving out some good stuff. Feel free to post additional recommendations to comments. If I have time I'll try to post more thorough reviews of some of these titles in the future.
A couple of new things to keep your eyes (or ears) on:
If you follow kickboxing (and if you don't, you should) there are 2 podcasts coming out that you should be listening to. The first is Warman's Kickfighting Show, and despite the slightly World of Warcraft sounding title it's very sober, intelligent discussion of kick-sports (kickboxing and Muay Thai). The second is the podcast associated with the lovely LiverKick site. Search the site for podcasts and you'll see their own listed. It's very good coverage of the sport.
Another absolutely wonderful site if you're at all interested in fighting sports is Fights Gone By. It's supposed to be coverage of classic fights, and it has wonderful links to classic fights in boxing, kickboxing, and MMA, but what makes it really special is the in-depth analysis of the fighting techniques used. It's the kind of site where you'll see a Mirko Cro Cop head kick, but unlike other places, it comes with exhaustive analysis of all the things Cro Cop does to make that head kick land.
Now any coverage of fighting sports is going to have some, but not perfect, relevance to unregulated combat. If you're into self defense you can't use kickboxing or boxing techniques as they are used in the ring exactly - gloves and tape and rules change the game. But a lot of the ideas do cross over to some extent, and if you enjoy fight sports for their own sake you'll enjoy them much more if you better understand what's going on. As wonderful as a big knockout it, it's much more enjoyable when you can see how the fighter set it up, got his opponent's defenses down, etc.
If you're interested reading more about conditioning and strength training while I'm not posting anything new hit my blogroll - especially Brett Contreras' site - I consistently find his posts entertaining and educational. If you're willing to buy some products (there's stuff on the site worth checking out for free too) definitely consider 8 Weeks Out, he has a ton of really good material that's changing the way the strength world is looking at endurance training.
I've mentioned before that I have a weakness for martial arts related fiction. I love material ranging from books that center on martial arts using characters to movies with MA themes to American and Asian comics (manga and manhua) that center on MA sports or MA using characters. Loving martial arts and liking MA fiction go together like liking science and liking science fiction - lots of science lovers and scientists love sci fi, lots of them hate it. A lot depends on how critical you are - how good you are at suspending disbelief when you read/ watch the stuff. If a character dodging bullets really annoys you (because it is so unrealistic) you're not going to love Dragonball. You might like Hajime no Ippo, though - that's a fairly realistic series about a Japanese boxer - no bullet dodging, no energy beams, just opponents with strong jabs or who fight left handed (both of which, you know, actually happen).
I'm not going to recommend any movies here - well, I lied, watch both Black Belt and High Kick Girl, I loved both, and anything starring Tony Jaa. Other people do a much more comprehensive job of reviewing/ recommending MA movies online (try Kung Fu Cinema for reviews, news, etc.).
For books I'm a fan of Steve Perry (not the one you're thinking of) - he's a real life silat practitioner and his books have very strong MA themes. His blog has links on the side to e-book versions of all his stuff. Start with The Man Who Never Missed. It's sci fi, and maybe it's not great literature, but they're fun reads and feature lots of MA action. Another guy who used to write a LOT about MA is Eric Lustbader. I grew up on his books - he broke out with The Ninja - and wrote a ton of bestsellers about MA in modern times. It's pretty much all trash, but entertaining trash. He's moved away from the MA themes in the last 15 years or so, so if that's what you like, start with his older work.
On the American comic side I'm mostly a reader of Marvel comics (nothing against other companies). The best MA comics are from the past - if you can read (or torrent) a set of Master of Kung Fu comics from the late 70's that title was surprisingly good. I liked the Iron Fist comic that was published just a few years ago - very strong MA themes - but most of the time Iron Fist is just another superhero who happens to use MA, there aren't really much in the way of MA plotlines in his stories.
If you really want to hit the motherload of MA themes comics, you have to go to Asian sourced stuff. There's a lot of material, and it really runs the gamut in terms of realism (from bullied teenagers taking up MA as an after school hobby to planet destroying aliens kung fu fighting) and seriousness (from very serious, like Holyland, all the way to ridiculous).
The cool thing about reading manga or manhua (manga are Japanese, manhua are Korean, and the manhua are usually read left to right, the Japanese stuff right to left) is that you can read/ sample all the good titles for free. Many are unavailable in English (in any legal/ official form, no matter what you're willing to pay), so there's a dedicated online community of scanlators (scan + translate = scanlate) who scan the comics, put in English words, and release the results for free. You can bittorrent the results, or, more easily, there are online readers where each page is a web page. Click on the page and it takes you to the next page.
The legality of these sites is sort of questionable. If you're morally opposed to using them, I understand, but bear in mind that many of these series are otherwise unavailable to English speakers. If I read Holyland on Mangafox.com, I'm not taking money away from the author - I literally can't buy that title in any store in a format I can use.
I'd rather not link to these sites. Go to google and put in "read [titleX] online" and you'll find a half dozen sites that show it.
If you want something realistic (no superpowers) try Holyland, All Rounder Meguru, Shamo (Shamo is really, really, dark and not suitable for children), and Hajime no Ippo. There are also a bunch of manga based loosely on historical samurai/ ninja stuff, and some are very realistic (some not so much).
If you're okay with some level of "super" abilities there are more options. For historical/ fantasy stuff (not set in a world like ours) Naruto's the best, Hunter x Hunter, Gamaran, Basilisk, and Samurai Deeper Kyo. For stuff in a modern setting try The Breaker, Baki (3 different series, same character), Tough (2 series), Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru, Tower of God, the God of High School (much better than it sounds).
I'm sure I'm leaving out some good stuff. Feel free to post additional recommendations to comments. If I have time I'll try to post more thorough reviews of some of these titles in the future.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Who, me? Stressed?
First of all, I apologize to anyone who subscribes in a reader and got this post without content - I was trying out a new keyboard and published by accident. I didn't even realize it until this morning.
If you're a new reader who heard my interview on The Applied Karate Podcast, then welcome! I recommend searching the archives for anything you found of interest, or posting questions to the comments. I'll happily respond to any questions people have (though I won't always know the answers, obviously). If you're a reader of this blog and not a listener of the Applied Karate Podcast, I recommend you check it out.
I've had a hectic few months. I started a new career (software developer) and moved (to Brooklyn, New York), but with my kids still back in Maryland I've been doing a lot of travelling back and forth. My training has suffered badly and my blogging has suffered even more!
A couple of quick notes: in times of stress (especially time stress) many of us turn to comfort foods that we know aren't good for us, often saying things like, "a little candy may not be good for me long term, but it will give me the energy to get through this very stressful day, and that's what I need right now." I can't claim to be immune to this impulse by any stretch, but it's worth avoiding. If you're really just having a very tough day that's one thing, but if your life is very busy and you need to get things done day in and day out you'll have a lot more energy and strength overall if you keep to a stricter diet. By stricter I mean "cleaner" - plenty of high quality meat and veggies, no grains, plenty of clean starches (white rice, sweet potatoes) - I DO NOT mean low calorie. High stress periods of life are not necessarily the times when you want to try to cut a lot of weight (sometimes they are, but adding stressors to yourself can be counterproductive when you're already under duress).
I have some more thoughts about stressful periods of life:
If you're a new reader who heard my interview on The Applied Karate Podcast, then welcome! I recommend searching the archives for anything you found of interest, or posting questions to the comments. I'll happily respond to any questions people have (though I won't always know the answers, obviously). If you're a reader of this blog and not a listener of the Applied Karate Podcast, I recommend you check it out.
I've had a hectic few months. I started a new career (software developer) and moved (to Brooklyn, New York), but with my kids still back in Maryland I've been doing a lot of travelling back and forth. My training has suffered badly and my blogging has suffered even more!
A couple of quick notes: in times of stress (especially time stress) many of us turn to comfort foods that we know aren't good for us, often saying things like, "a little candy may not be good for me long term, but it will give me the energy to get through this very stressful day, and that's what I need right now." I can't claim to be immune to this impulse by any stretch, but it's worth avoiding. If you're really just having a very tough day that's one thing, but if your life is very busy and you need to get things done day in and day out you'll have a lot more energy and strength overall if you keep to a stricter diet. By stricter I mean "cleaner" - plenty of high quality meat and veggies, no grains, plenty of clean starches (white rice, sweet potatoes) - I DO NOT mean low calorie. High stress periods of life are not necessarily the times when you want to try to cut a lot of weight (sometimes they are, but adding stressors to yourself can be counterproductive when you're already under duress).
I have some more thoughts about stressful periods of life:
- If you think you don't have time to train you're wrong. Many of us get sort of trapped into the idea of "a workout" as a big block of time for exercise. You might not have an hour to set aside for exercise, but very few of us have jobs where we really can't get up every hour or so and knock out some exercise. Put a chinup bar in a doorway and do a couple of chinups every time you go through it. Stand up from your desk and throw a few punches. If you work in a cubicle, kiai loudly, it will make everybody appreciate your efforts. Brush your teeth in kiba dachi. Practice your posture - pack your neck and shoulders, and tighten your abs, while standing around - you can do this on the train ride to work, waiting for a meeting, wherever. I can't promise the same results as if you added in dedicated workouts but it will help.
- Try not to skimp on sleep. It's tempting to "make" extra time by cutting short on sleep - look, if you have to, then you have to, but the value of quality sleep for health is very large. Your long term health will suffer. Those hours you gain aren't free.
- If you need downtime, then take it. People can't do grueling work all day, day after day, without a break - they lose efficiency. The trick is to take a real break, do something that makes you happy, don't feel guilty about it, and don't think of it as "wasting" time. If you love videogames, play them - but don't just play computer solitaire because you're too wiped out to get your work done and kill hours doing something you don't actually enjoy.
The more you say, "screw it, I'm having a tough time, I don't have the energy to eat right or train" the harder it's going to be for you to get back on track when things lighten up. Don't get down on yourself for taking it a little easier, but don't cut yourself too much slack either.
Please listen to the Podcast. I'll try to get the final article on periodization up soon, I promise! And I'm thinking about another round of before-and-after photos... though I haven't made much progress this year, sadly.
Osu!
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