Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of people that seem to be hitting the “wall” in some of the longer, high rep workouts.  Hitting the “wall” is a point in the workout when your body wants to shut down because of the overload of work.  When this happens, you start to take longer rests and stare at the bar.  The burn kicks in and your body tells you, “I don’t want to lift anymore”.  It’s no fun getting to that point.  To avoid hitting the “wall”, we have got to learn to pace ourselves throughout workouts.  When we come into the gym and see a workout that’s “For Time”, that doesn’t mean you have to haul ass as soon as you hear “3,2,1″.  Especially when there’s a large amount of work to be done.  Instead, you should break it down and think about what YOU’RE capable of doing.  For some it may be 20 unbroken reps and for others it could be 5.  Whichever it may be, we have got to keep ourselves honest and remember that the technique is most important.  If you are smart about how you pace yourselves on each movement throughout a workout, then you shouldn’t ever hit the “wall”.  That being said, pacing is not an excuse to take frequent long periods of rest.  Your rest period has ALWAYS got to be shorter then your work period.  When you come in to the gym, try to find a solid pace that you can hold onto for the entire workout.  If you ever have any questions on how to pace or help with pacing, ask any coach.  Train hard, Eat clean, Rest easy.

-Will

Cancer cells slurp up fructose, US study finds

Aug 2 (Reuters) – Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that challenges the common wisdom that all sugars are the same.

Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways, the team at the University of California Los Angeles found.

They said their finding, published in the journal Cancer Research, may help explain other studies that have linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.

“These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation,” Dr. Anthony Heaney of UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center and colleagues wrote.

“They have major significance for cancer patients given dietary refined fructose consumption, and indicate that efforts to reduce refined fructose intake or inhibit fructose-mediated actions may disrupt cancer growth.”

Americans take in large amounts of fructose, mainly in high fructose corn syrup, a mix of fructose and glucose that is used in soft drinks, bread and a range of other foods.

Politicians, regulators, health experts and the industry have debated whether high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients have been helping make Americans fatter and less healthy.

Too much sugar of any kind not only adds pounds, but is also a key culprit in diabetes, heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

Several states, including New York and California, have weighed a tax on sweetened soft drinks to defray the cost of treating obesity-related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

The American Beverage Association, whose members include Coca-Cola (KO.N) and Kraft Foods (KFT.N) have strongly, and successfully, opposed efforts to tax soda. [ID:nN12233126]

The industry has also argued that sugar is sugar.

Heaney said his team found otherwise. They grew pancreatic cancer cells in lab dishes and fed them both glucose and fructose.

Tumor cells thrive on sugar but they used the fructose to proliferate. “Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different,” Heaney’s team wrote.

“I think this paper has a lot of public health implications. Hopefully, at the federal level there will be some effort to step back on the amount of high fructose corn syrup in our diets,” Heaney said in a statement.

Now the team hopes to develop a drug that might stop tumor cells from making use of fructose.

U.S. consumption of high fructose corn syrup went up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, researchers reported in 2004 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: Reuters

Health and Wellness

I am up in San Jose for the Strikforce Heavyweight finals with my friend Josh. It is an honor for me to be a part of this and I never would have thought that when I was watching him fight in 2000 that I would be cornering him 12 years later. Its been a great ride and I look forward to seeing him bring home the hardware this Saturday.

A huge congrats to CF Brea athlete Raven Freret who was named to the All West Region Team. Raven just finished her  sophomore season and she is already back in the room with us prepping for next year. Here is the link for her story.

Below is Mike Baker helping out Angelique finish her workout. We are very proud of the individuals that take the time to help others. It feels good to know that you have support behind you. Mike is always there for others and we encourage you to take notice when someone is struggling or still working and offer some encouragement.-Erik

Angelique, Bake

Workout first thing Monday morning:

Heike in the front of the class

Zoey

Rachel having a good time

Audrey, Patrick and Sylvia

Mike and Howard pushing each other

Great effort this morning!