DESIGNING BETTER LIVING THROUGH STRENGTH
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EUGENIZATION
a personal training blog

From the category archives:

Exercise Science

Strength, Skill; Skill, Strength?

by Eugene Thong on September 30, 2009

One prominent  and controversial question in strength training circles: Is training strength and demonstrating strength the same thing or different things?  In other words, what’s the best way to build strength – by “demonstrating” it through heavy maximal lifts, explosive movements, and plain-ol’ ‘lifting stuff‘, or by ‘training it’ through more measured and precise means?
This [...]

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Max Learns About Fatty Liver. And Fructose.

by Eugene Thong on September 21, 2009

Last night my foster son picked my brain regarding diabetes (his birth father is a Type 2 diabetic). While the entire car-ride conversation was ripe fodder for a blog post, what I’m going to recount here is our discussion on fatty liver, fructose, and diabetes.
What is fatty liver?
Fatty liver is an excess buildup of [...]

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Glut 4 Redux.

July 16, 2009

The problem with being a know-it-all is that other people assume (not surprisingly) that you know it all.  Then, when a particularly bright (and well-researched) client says something like this:
I think modulation of the GLUT4 transporter is probably the key to the whole insulin sensitivity issue post exercise.  What do you think?
…you can only shrug [...]

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Post Workout Nutrition – Milk and Cereal?

July 10, 2009

Every once in awhile (ok, well; often) a client will pass along a news story that’s so far off the mark that it makes me go Super Saiyan.  Here’s the latest one:
Cereal and Milk is the New Sports Supplement, Says Study.
Briefly, the new study looked at using a whole foods source – in this case, [...]

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Misalignment.

May 12, 2009

One of the key concepts that I’ve tried to use in my application of Brazilian Jiujitsu is the idea of misalignment.  If you’ve ever partaken in an organized sport of any kind, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Where the head goes, the body follows.”  Well, the converse is true as well – if you want [...]

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On Efficiency and Effectiveness.

April 15, 2009

Phyllis asks:
…but why do my shoulders keep popping up? If I know what the proper form is supposed to be, then why do I keep doing the same thing wrong? It’s not like I’m trying to do the exercise in bad form, it’s like they have a mind of their own.
The short answer: [...]

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Deconstructing “The Pump” – What’s The Science Behind Muscle Pumps?

February 11, 2009

Ah, the muscle pump – in the annals of bodybuilding, is anything more sacred?  For the uninitiated, the pump is that sensation of muscle fullness after performing a lot of work for a given muscle group (whether directly or indirectly).
Ah, who am I kidding.  Everyone knows Arnold explained it best, way back in ‘77:

Of course, [...]

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Muscles Contract From Both Ends.

January 13, 2009

Try this experiment: Grab a piece of rope, hold one end with both hands, and pull.
What happened?  A whole lotta nothing.  Why?  Because you can only transfer force through the rope if the other end is tied to something.  In other words, you can’t play tug of war with yourself.
According to our best theoretical model, [...]

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Neurological Efficiency and Recruitment.

December 29, 2008

In the previous post, I alluded to the terms neurological efficiency and neurological recruitment.  These terms sound similar but are quite different, not in the least in that neurological efficiency cannot be improved, whereas recruitment can be improved.  Consider this post an attempt to clear up confusion.
Both terms refer to what goes on in a [...]

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David and Goliath: What Determines Strength?

December 16, 2008

Teri asks:
I have larger hip muscles than Joanne.  So why is it that she can lift more than I can in lower body exercises?
It may surprise you to discover that there are lots of factors that determine strength (or, more accurately, expression of strength).  Here’s a quick and dirty list compiled off the top of [...]

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