Fred Hahn's Ideas and Insights on Exercise and Nutrition to Better Your Life

Moronic Musings

A friend sent me this article a few days ago and I have to say that the depth of the stupidity of it is staggering.

The fact that this sort of drivel is out there is a testament to how screwed up the field of exercise really is. Morononic musings like the article below by Mr. Scott abound.

Allow me to dissect, destroy and pulverize his blatherings.

Here we go....

Excerpts : Is Your Workout Wasting Your Time? A no-nonsense look at the often nonsensical world of fitness clubs. By Paul Scott, Best Life

"Researchers, for instance, have known that the leg-extension machine (the unit in which you sit with your shin behind a padded bar attached to a weight stack and then straighten your leg in front of you) trains you to do just one thing: become very strong at the leg-extension machine."

Really? That's it? We don't know if this statement is true as Mr. Scott does not cite any references. If true then biceps curls only get you good at biceps curls, chest presses at chest presses, squats at squats, etc. By inference Mr. Scott suggests that strength training exercises do not promote muscular hypertrophy. Where oh where has Mr. Scott been?

"In one of the few studies on this subject, researchers from the University of Kentucky studied 23 patients with knee pain to see what made them stronger: a step-up test or doing leg extensions. While they found that both groups eventually became stronger at doing leg extensions, only the group doing the step-up test actually became stronger at stepping up and doing functional activities. The reason: The seated leg-extension machine has nothing to do with how we use our legs, which are meant to hold us upright against gravity while we walk, climb, or descend."

A few things here - a step up test is a specific task. In order to get better at the step up test, you have to practice the step up test. The group doing the knee extensions should have been doing the step up test too so that they would become skilled at the task and THEN tested to see who did better. If both groups did as well you could conclude that knee extensions contributed nothing to the step up test. Secondly, step up involve knee extension and hip extension. If the test in performed in a rigorous manner, you will increase the strength of the quads, glutes and hamstrings. The leg extension is only designed to strengthen the quads.As for the leg extension exercise having noting do do with how we use our legs, tell that to a soccer player.

In fact, Chris Powers, a biokinesiology researcher at the University of California determined that although the thighbone rotates under the kneecap as we walk, using a leg-extension machine actually causes the kneecap to rotate on the thighbone. The mechanics of the leg-extension machine simply doesn't simulate what happens in functional activity (e.g., walking, running, or going down steps).

Again no reference cited. And if this is true that the knee cap rotates on the thighbone rather than the other way around, so what? When we strength train we are not attempting to mimic what we do in functional activity whatever that truly means. That is not the purpose of strength training. Do we not extend our knee in in functional activity? A football punter thinks so I'll bet.


"The leg-extension machine puts a lot of strain on the knee ligaments and the patella," says Tim Hewett, PhD, a professor in the departments of biomedical engineering and pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati "I would never consider letting our athletes use a leg-extension machine."

Yes I can hear the training room dialog now - "Boomer - get your butt off that dangerous and evil leg extension machine! Your really gonna hurt your patella doing that. Now, go on over there and snatch that barbell over your head as fast and as explosively as possible 50 times and then get out on the field and ram your cervical spine into the blocking posts till you drop."


"When it comes to promoting strength that is not meaningful, the leg-extension machine is one of many."

Unmeaningful strength - now that statement is a doozy!

Help For Heartburn

Dr. Norm Robillard has written a great book on how to virtually eliminate heartburn without meds or surgery. I have followed his advice inadvertently and rarely suffer from heartburn or, as it is called when chronic, GERD.

Essentially to cure your heartburn don't gulp Maalox or quit coffee. Simply remove carbs - refined carbs, grains and beans and  watch your GERD get gone. His book gives a great explanation for the how and why and it never hurts to be a brain.

Diabetes Clip

If you suffer from type II diabetes or know someone who does, please watch this clip.

Grocery Woes

I'm watching CNBC right now and they are telling me that due to skyrocketing prices, people are buying cheaper foods to save money. Less meat and more macaroni. Less fish and more fish sticks.

I feel for those who are in this predicament (unless they smoke cigarettes and eat Twinkies).

But because of this, if you think obesity in this country is bad now - look out. You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

TIP: A dozen eggs costs less than a box of Cheerios.

A pound of Hamburger meat costs less than a pound of fish sticks.

And let's not forget that the healthier you eat, the less food you need to eat (that is if you want to call Cheerios food).

So realize that nutrient rich foods (meat, fish, eggs, etc.) though at times more expensive, give a family a lot more nutritional bang for your buck.

Eat smart, not cheap.

Adolescent Obesity Levels Off

According to a recent study or, rather, survey, over the past decade adolescent obesity has leveled off. This is good news (if in fact the news is for real).

The sad part is that for the past 20 years or so, kids have been allowed to become so fat. It's our fault - the parents, the government and especially the food companies.

In an LA Times article, Dr. Riza Lavizzo-Mourey, President of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation is quoted as having said:

"These findings may signal that this national epidemic is not an unstoppable force."

You don't need to see the results of the survey to know that this 'epidemic' is entirely stoppable. In fact, the answer is quite simple. Why so many organizations act as if the reason or cause is insurmountable and unfathomable is beyond me.

Kids today are overfat because they eat too much sugar specifically refined carbohydrates (and yes, to a certain extent, calories in general). In my new book Strong Kids Healthy Kids this will be discussed in more detail.

Additionally, it's got not a thing to do with inactivity. Research indicates that overfat kids are just as active as their leaner counterparts. There are plenty of obese and active kids and plenty of lean inactive kids. Money spent on getting kids more active is money wasted. Of course kids should have gym class. Of course kids should be encouraged to participate in sports. But not for reasons of fat loss.

The idea that inactivity is a factor in obesity is without merit. Several studies have looked at activity/aerobic programs in children and found no change in body composition. Two being a 3 year study by Cohen, 1995 Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 66: A29 and a 10 week study by Ignico and Mahon, 1995 (same issue pgs. 85-90) both showed no change in body composition.

It's the gobbling of sugar, not the refrain from frolic that makes kids fat.

And who feeds kids the wrong stuff? Family, friends, schools and institutions.

Q: How do we stop war? Cease killing people.

Q: How do we stop adolescent obesity? Cease feeding kids that which makes them fat. And we know EXACTLY what these foods are. They are foods that never walked, crawled, swam, flew or grew. There is no such thing as a pasta bush, a bagel tree or a pizza-fish. I never met a cookie-cow in my life.

I don't care that it's hard. I don't care that the kids will complain. I don't care that you have to get up earlier to cook and prepare. I don't care that you have to eat the same way too.

The answers to life's problems are sometimes hard. Really hard. But let's not pretend that the answers don't exist because this is so.

"Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness."

A complimentary autographed copy of my book The Slow Burn Revolution goes to the first person who can tell me who said this. HINT: It was a man.

Real Food Pyramid

I know I said I was busy - and I am - but I needed to share this with you.

Eat like this and you will be healthy, wealthy and wise:





















From the Nutrition and Metabolism website. A great place to learn about how to eat for optimal health.

OK back to the grindstone for me!

Editing My Life Away

My editor has given me quite the editorial challenge on my new book Strong Kids, Healthy Kids (you might have to scroll down a tad to see the cover of the new book and can sign up to be informed of the release  if you wish) and so I am now into full blown editing mania. Just when you thought you were smart...






Until I get done with her very fine and correct edits, I won't be blogging as often. So bear with me as I finish up this difficult but rewarding task. (It's coming Jacquie I promise!!!)



I need to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate...

Mice Are Men?

This article titled Low -Fat Diet May Cut Prostate Cancer Risk was in today's NY Times Health section.

You know I gotta say that these are the types of articles that really get my blood boiling. They also give me a good belly laugh. Let's start with the laughter:

"Using a mouse model that closely mimics human prostate cancer, researchers fed one group of mice a diet with about 40 percent of calories coming from fat, similar to the amount found in a typical Western diet. The other group received 12 percent of their calories from fat."

A mouse model. Mice.

And they fed mice a diet that had 40% fat. An animal that isn't designed to eat much fat. Remember mad cow's disease?

OK here's the belly laugh:

"Although the data come from mice, researchers say it’s reasonable to think the finding will translate to people."

Really? I'd venture a guess and say that it's just as reasonable to think that the finding would NOT translate to people.

Who are these researchers? Are these people scientists? Let's see:

"Scientists at Jonsson Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles."

Yep. They're scientists alright. Pretty crummy ones if they actually made this laughable statement. Let's see what else they said:

"Researchers say there are already known benefits to lowering or eliminating processed baked goods and fried foods from the diet."

Careful there you smarty-pants researchers.

Questions: How do they know it is the fat that is the culprit? Why couldn't it be the refined carbohydrates? Or the combination of both the fat and carbohydrate? Or simply the type of fat and not the amount? Or just the fact that the foods are processed which wreaks havoc on our systems?

Do you think that the mice would have had this problem if they were fed only almonds and avocados?

The title of the article should have been:

Mice That Are Fed Foods Consisting Of A Macro Nutrient Content That They Never Would Naturally Eat In The Wild Get Cancer.

Can you imagine a doctor saying:

"Well Mr. Smith, I know you're concerned about your hair loss. But now there's good news! Research shows that if I inject a mouse in the head with the fluid in this syringe, its hair grows much thicker. It's reasonable to assume that if it grows the hair of a mouse thicker, it will work on you too. Shall I go ahead and inject this into your skull now?"

I think you'd bolt.

Might Is Right

Today's NY Times had a nice article on the importance of strength training.

Here's a snippet from the article that I liked:

"Healthy muscles, researchers say, are  those that have been worked, stressed and pushed to their  limit..."

Here's one I sort of didn't like:

"And keeping muscles fit takes effort, which means regular training with weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise..."

Regular training sounds somewhat misleading. It sounds like weight lifting is something you should do nearly everyday. Research indicates that twice weekly strength training for 15-20 minutes a pop is all you need.

By and large, cardiovascular exercises do NOT keep muscles from atrophy (weakening) and are usually orthopedicaly compromising, meaning, bad for you. Strength training all by its lonesome improves cardiovascular health and aerobic capacity.

Strength training also allows you to perform cardio or aerobic sports better and with less chance of injury. So if you enjoy these types of things,  you'll be able to keep up with them into your later years.

The concept of keeping 'fit' is an odd one. Fit for what exactly? Just becasue you are a good runner doesn't mean you can swim well. Being fit for soccer doesn't make you fit for racquet ball. 'Fit' is a catchphrase used to describe a general condition of the body when it really describes a specific condition.

The article goes on to say:

"If you don’t work your muscles, they will atrophy, especially as you grow older."

This is not entirely true. It isn't just work that strengthens muscles and keeps them from atrophy. Walking is work. Jogging is work. Badminton is work. But these activities will NOT keep muscles from weakening as we age. Remember  what was said above:

"Healthy muscles, researchers say, are  those that have been worked, stressed and pushed to their  limit..."

And they're right. Sadly, most people have no idea what this means - or takes.

This statement:

"To maintain endurance, you  should engage in activities that  pump blood to the muscles, like walking."

Sure - walking is fine. But strength training pumps blood into the muscles better than anything.  Improvements in strength lead directly to improvements in muscular and cardio endurance. So strength training once again fills the bill all by itself.

Lastly, Dr. Kramer's comments:

"The most effective way to stimulate muscles is with a system known as progressive resistance. This approach can take about three hours a week and includes days, once a week or so, when you lift weights so heavy that you can do only three to five repetitions before your muscles are too tired to lift again. Other days are devoted to moderate resistance, with weights you can lift 8 to 10 times. And then you should have some light days, with weights you can lift 12 to 15 times before your muscles tire."

Actually this is not what is meant by progressive resistance. Progressive resistance involves making weights in an exercise heavier, little by little, as time goes on.

What Dr. Kramer is describing (and wrote a book about) is known as periodization. There is absolutely no evidence to support Dr. Kramer's opinion that periodizing your weight lifting (as he describes it above) is a necessary method for building strength.

In fact, we already learned from this article - by Dr. Kramer himself - that light lifting days where you use weights so light that you can do 12-15 reps is a waste of time.

Dr. Kramer said:

"Those who do try to lift at the gym  can end up  using weights that are not heavy enough to fully stimulate their muscles."

Using weights that allow you to do 12-15 reps in a controlled (proper) fashion would be a fairly good definition of weights that are not heavy enough to fully stimulate the muscles.

All in all it's a good article praising the benefits of strength training but it also keeps some long standing myths alive.

And truth be told, strength training offers a lot more benefits than the article mentions!

Keeping Track

Keeping track of your what you eat is a critical part of achieving the fat loss as well as the muscle gains you desire.  If you don't keep track, you won't do as well as you could - that's the fact Jack.

FitDay is a free (yes I said free!) online and fairly easy to use tracking system to manage what you eat and much more. You can create goals, mark notes, etc.

Use it and lose it. (And gain it!)

One thing - I have not yet checked to see if every entry is calorically or macronutriently correct. Nor will I. So don't get hot under the collar at me if you find errors which you probably will. None of these resources are perfect.

Thanks to Neil Holland for alerting me to this neato resource.