The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and The Wolf Said ‘F*@* It!’

‘How can you be open to other perspectives and knowledge if you are closed tightly in thought, by ego?’

The term ‘Consistency is Key’ has fallen into distripute, because it has been nullified by the fact that people can develop a pattern at being ‘Consistently Bad’, which is due to them starting their journey thinking they’re right about something, and being unaware and/or avoiding listening to anyone who will try to help them. They bulldose down this path either due to ego, anger, or both. And it’s disheartening to be witness to this, because I have seen these people in action and they are otherwise good-hearted people, nevertheless, they are blinded by ego. Let’s use this example in fitness training, shall we?

“Let’s “Pull Down” The Shroud of Mystery Cloaking Exercise Performance’

There are many different versions of many different exercises, an example that I am going to use for this scenario is the ‘ Cable Lat Pull-Down’.. Over the many years we have seen people perform this exercise by pulling the cable down to their chest which has been dubbed as “the safer way” of performing this exercise, whereas ‘old school’ gym-goers will swear by the method in where they pull the bar down behind their head, almost touching their neck. However, cited in the American College of Sports Medicine’s ‘Health and Fitness Journal’ Kolber et al (2010) states that when discomfort of, and instability or impingement of the shoulder can occur when the arms and angle of the shoulder are in a “high-five” position; and this “high-five” postion, occurs when the hands are pronated (meaning palms facing downard, or forward in this case), pulling the bar down behind the head OR when the arms and elbows are kept in the frontal plane when pulling the bar down infront of the head (Ronai, 2019).

Above is an example of the lat pull-down performed in the frontal plane, that can cause shoulder impingement.

While Lehman (2005) found no significant difference in muscle activation of the biceps and the latissimus dorsi (lats), between a wide grip or narrow grip, in terms of safety, people should avoid having their elbows and arms in the frontal plane when performing this exercise (Ronai, 2019).

Let’s move onto one of the biggest controversy’s of science and society, shall we?

The misperception of whether or not ‘saturated fat’ is bad for you.

Saturated fat has been demonized in society for the past however many decades (Keys, 1954; Keys, 1970; Keys, 1984; Lichtenstein, Lawrence et al, 2006; Stamler, 2010). They push their agenda, for reasons to which the wanted to be right, and I think at the time, they truly believed they wanted to do the right thing, however, scientist like Ancel Keys and Jeremiah Stamler (Especially Keys) have been described as bullies in their industry (cited in Teicholz, 2014). They were aggressive in pursuing their outcomes even when they were wrong. It speaks volumes really. People will go to extrenme lengths to prove they’re right no matter how misguided, and this is where ego can be a dangerous thing!

If you look at the data throloughly when it comes to nutritional science, epidemiological (observational) studies, which is what a lot of these studies were, with maybe a few excpetions, were weak studies. In the world of nutritional science, there are so many factors to consider - what foods that population consumes, how regular they consume those foods, what environment they live in, is their air clean? Is their water clean? Do they exercise? How frequently do they exercise? Do tey have access to personal hygeine products? - that you cannot possibly determine the effects of saturated fat from a purely observational stand-point. In nutritional and social sciences, there are factors that relate to each other, such as nutrition, hygeine, clean water, and socio-economic status, as well as the location of their homes in relation to accessible food supplies etc.

The demonic light that saturated fat was portrayed in, although debunked many times (Wallach, Lan et al, 2014; Taubes, 2001; Teicholz, 2014; Uauy et al, 2000; Volek, Phinney, Forsythe et al, 2009), people have unknowingly or unguidingly attached themselves to the idea that saturated fat is still, somehow, “bad” for them, even the the evidence shows the contrary.

Bottom line?

You can be “consistently bad” in your train of thought which can lead to you behaving in a way that’s consistently bad for your health and wellbeing, and the sad truth is that sometimes don’t recognise this problem until much later down the road, and although it’s a difficult thing to do (trust me!), we must drop our egos in search of the truth - How can you be open to other perspectives and knowledge if you are closed tightly in thought, by ego?

Take-aways?

• Research, if unsure

• Be open-minded

• Support your friends and work in harmony with them

• Approach topics like Sherlock

• Be patient

I hope this has helped you in some way shape or form and provided you with knowledge to helps you in some way.

God Bless, and by for now!

Brad

References:

Keys, Ancel, and Noboru Kimora. “Diets of Middle-Aged Farmers in Japan.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 23, no. 2 (February 1970): 212–223.

Keys, Ancel, Alessandro Menotti, Christos Aravanis, et al. “The Seven Countries Study: 2,289 Deaths in 15 Years.” Preventive Medicine 13, no. 2 (March 1984): 141–154.

Keys, Ancel, Francisco Vivanco, J. L. Rodriguez Miñon, Margaret Haney Keys, and H. Castro Mendoza. “Studies on the Diet, Body Fatness and Serum Cholesterol in Madrid, Spain.” Metabolism Clinical and Experimental 3, no. 3 (May 1954): 195–212

Kolber MJ, Beekhuizen KS, Cheng MS, Hellman MA. Shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training: a brief review. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Jun;24(6):1696-704. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181dc4330. PMID: 20508476.

Lehman GJ, Buchan DD, Lundy A, Myers N, Nalborczyk A. Variations in muscle activation levels during traditional latissimus dorsi weight training exercises: an experimental study. Dyn Med. 2004;3(1):4.

Lichtenstein, Alice H., Lawrence J. Appel, Michael Brands, et al. “Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations, Revision 2006: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee.” Circulation 114, no. 1 (July 4, 2006): 82–96.

Ronai, Peter M.S., FACSM, ACSM-CEP, ACSM-EP, EIM Level III, CSCS. The Lat Pulldown. ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal 23(2):p 24-30, 3/4 2019. | DOI: 10.1249/FIT.0000000000000469

Stamler, Jeremiah. “Diet-Heart: A Problematic Revisit.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 91, no. 3 (March 2010): 497–499

Taubes, Gary. “The Soft Science of Dietary Fat.” Science 291, no. 5513 (March 2001): 2536–2545

Teicholz, Nina. THE BIG FAT SURPRISE: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy diet (2014).

Uauy R, Mize CE, Castillo-Duran C. Fat intake during childhood: metabolic responses and effects on growth. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Nov;72(5 Suppl):1354S-1360S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/72.5.1354s. PMID: 11063477.

Volek, Jeff S., Stephen D. Phinney, Cassandra E. Forsythe, et al. “Carbohydrate Restriction Has a More Favorable Impact on the Metabolic Syndrome than a Low Fat Diet.” Lipids 44, no. 4 (April 2009): 297–309

Wallach, Joel D., Lan, Ma, and Schrauzer, Gerhard N. EPIGENETICS: The Death of the Theory of Genetic Disease Transmission (2014).