Everything Is Useful (Stepping Out Of The Box), Creatine x 1, & Fish Oil Squared

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2011

Everything Is Useful (Stepping Out Of The Box), Creatine x 1, & Fish Oil Squared

 

Strongest Guy I Know Doing Curls?  You Should, Too.

Jump back one year; two enthusiastic strength and conditioning coaches, armed with nothing more than a Toyota Yaris, an eclectic iPod bursting with music, and a Chris Spealler look-a-like hooked on metcon so bad he was mute, walked through the doors of Catalyst Athletics.  Things would never be the same again.

I'm reminiscing for a good reason; the lessons learned at the seminar are still fresh in my mind today, and I apply them everyday.  It was an awesome conglomeration of ideas from OUTSIDE the box.   I wrote briefly about it here.

Still, to this day, one of the best lectures I've attended was from Gant Grimes; he instilled the value that everything has a purpose.  He specifically used the example of WHY someone SHOULD do LSD (long slow distance---and I agree, 100%).  The quote "Everything works...up to a point" cannot be understated.

After a phenomenal training session just this last Tuesday, it got me to thinking:  Why do people pigeon-hole themselves into training a certain way, when, technically, EVERYTHING works?  And especially when stuff they DON'T do would even have a higher degree of efficacy?

The great thing about Crossfit is that there's such a vast variety and diversity of skills involved that we are technically always making linear progression.  That being said, folks still confine themselves to, at most, a dozen different movements on a regular basis.  For most people, these are things they 1) like, 2) are relatively good at, and 3) want to get better at.

Now, this isn't a crime by any means; an essential part of training is doing it because it's fun.  But when progress stalls, we need to look at why.  There's always a bazillion variables involved in this.  Without ranting on and on and making little sense, let me leave you with this:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

   ---Albert Einstein 

J Am Coll Nutr. 2009 Oct;28(5):525-42.

EPA but not DHA appears to be responsible for the efficacy of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in depression: evidence from a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Martins JG.

Academy of Nutritional Medicine, 80 Commercial End, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridge CB25 0NE, UK. julian.martins@aonm.org

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic and case-control data suggest that increased dietary intake of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega3 LC-PUFAs) may be of benefit in depression. However, the results of randomized controlled trials are mixed and controversy exists as to whether either eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or both are responsible for the reported benefits.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current study was to provide an updated meta-analysis of all double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized controlled trials examining the effect of omega3 LC-PUFA supplementation in which depressive symptoms were a reported outcome. The study also aimed to specifically test the differential effectiveness of EPA versus DHA through meta-regression and subgroup analyses.
DESIGN: Studies were selected using the PubMed database on the basis of the following criteria: (1) randomized design; (2) placebo controlled; (3) use of an omega3 LC-PUFA preparation containing DHA, EPA, or both where the relative amounts of each fatty acid could be quantified; and (4) reporting sufficient statistics on scores of a recognizable measure of depressive symptoms.
RESULTS: Two hundred forty-one studies were identified, of which 28 met the above inclusion criteria and were therefore included in the subsequent meta-analysis. Using a random effects model, overall standardized mean depression scores were reduced in response to omega3 LC-PUFA supplementation as compared with placebo (standardized mean difference = -0.291, 95% CI = -0.463 to -0.120, z = -3.327, p = 0.001). However, significant heterogeneity and evidence of publication bias were present. Meta-regression studies showed a significant effect of higher levels of baseline depression and lower supplement DHA/EPA ratio on therapeutic efficacy. Subgroup analyses showed significant effects for: (1) diagnostic category (bipolar disorder and major depression showing significant improvement with omega3 LC-PUFA supplementation versus mild-to-moderate depression, chronic fatigue and non-clinical populations not showing significant improvement); (2) therapeutic as opposed to preventive intervention; (3) adjunctive treatment as opposed to monotherapy; and (4) supplement type. Symptoms of depression were not significantly reduced in 3 studies using pure DHA (standardized mean difference 0.001, 95% CI -0.330 to 0.332, z = 0.004, p = 0.997) or in 4 studies using supplements containing greater than 50% DHA (standardized mean difference = 0.141, 95% CI = -0.195 to 0.477, z = 0.821, p = 0.417). In contrast, symptoms of depression were significantly reduced in 13 studies using supplements containing greater than 50% EPA (standardized mean difference = -0.446, 95% CI = -0.753 to -0.138, z = -2.843, p = 0.005) and in 8 studies using pure ethyl-EPA (standardized mean difference = -0.396, 95% CI = -0.650 to -0.141, z = -3.051, p = 0.002). However, further meta-regression studies showed significant inverse associations between efficacy and study methodological quality, study sample size, and duration, thus limiting the confidence of these findings.
CONCLUSIONS: The current meta-analysis provides evidence that EPA may be more efficacious than DHA in treating depression. However, owing to the identified limitations of the included studies, larger, well-designed, randomized controlled trials of sufficient duration are needed to confirm these findings.

PMID: 20439549 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

WHAT GUERRILLA MEANS... (CROSSFIT MONTCLAIR)

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2011 CrossFit Open Week 3

Check out photos from week 3 of the CrossFit open:

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CrossFit training gaining momentum

CrossFit Embrace (Added: March 07, 2011)

Gym brings high-intensity cardio and strength-training workout to Dothan, Ala. (more)

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• Keisha Brazell wins Wilhelmina Hot Body Model Search

By PEGGY USSERY
Published: March 06, 2011

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DOTHAN, Ala. --

When people come into CrossFit Embrace to work out, they check the board. There, they’ll find the WOD – Workout of the Day – along with the number of repetitions expected.

“Each workout every day is completely different,” said Keisha Brazell, who co-owns the gym with husbandLandon.

On any given day, members might be expected to do 100 push-ups, sit-ups or squats. There may be deadlifts and pull-ups thrown into the mix. Tossing a 10- to 20-pound medicine ball against a concrete wall isn’t unheard of either. And don’t be surprised to see someone doing handstand push-ups. There’s running and rowing and climbing rope.

Members are asked to do it all as fast as they can.

March 5, 2011

Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy

By GARDINER HARRIS

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — Alone with his psychiatrist, the patient confided that his newborn had serious health problems, his distraught wife was screaming at him and he had started drinking again. With his life and second marriage falling apart, the man said he needed help.

But the psychiatrist, Dr. Donald Levin, stopped him and said: “Hold it. I’m not your therapist. I could adjust your medications, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Like many of the nation’s 48,000 psychiatrists, Dr. Levin, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades. Instead, he prescribes medication, usually after a brief consultation with each patient. So Dr. Levin sent the man away with a referral to a less costly therapist and a personal crisis unexplored and unresolved.

Medicine is rapidly changing in the United States from a cottage industry to one dominated by large hospital groups and corporations, but the new efficiencies can be accompanied by a telling loss of intimacy between doctors and patients. And no specialty has suffered this loss more profoundly than psychiatry.

Trained as a traditional psychiatrist at Michael Reese Hospital, a sprawling Chicago medical center that has since closed, Dr. Levin, 68, first established a private practice in 1972, when talk therapy was in its heyday.

Then, like many psychiatrists, he treated 50 to 60 patients in once- or twice-weekly talk-therapy sessions of 45 minutes each. Now, like many of his peers, he treats 1,200 people in mostly 15-minute visits for prescription adjustments that are sometimes months apart. Then, he knew his patients’ inner lives better than he knew his wife’s; now, he often cannot remember their names. Then, his goal was to help his patients become happy and fulfilled; now, it is just to keep them functional.

Dr. Levin has found the transition difficult. He now resists helping patients to manage their lives better. “I had to train myself not to get too interested in their problems,” he said, “and not to get sidetracked trying to be a semi-therapist.”

Brief consultations have become common in psychiatry, said Dr. Steven S. Sharfstein, a former president of the American Psychiatric Association and the president and chief executive of Sheppard Pratt Health System, Maryland’s largest behavioral health system.

“It’s a practice that’s very reminiscent of primary care,” Dr. Sharfstein said. “They check up on people; they pull out the prescription pad; they order tests.”

With thinning hair, a gray beard and rimless glasses, Dr. Levin looks every bit the psychiatrist pictured for decades in New Yorker cartoons. His office, just above Dog Daze Canine Hair Designs in this suburb of Philadelphia, has matching leather chairs, and African masks and a moose head on the wall. But there is no couch or daybed; Dr. Levin has neither the time nor the space for patients to lie down anymore.

On a recent day, a 50-year-old man visited Dr. Levin to get his prescriptions renewed, an encounter that took about 12 minutes.

Two years ago, the man developed rheumatoid arthritis and became severely depressed. His family doctor prescribed an antidepressant, to no effect. He went on medical leave from his job at an insurance company, withdrew to his basement and rarely ventured out.

“I became like a bear hibernating,” he said.

Missing the Intrigue

He looked for a psychiatrist who would provide talk therapy, write prescriptions if needed and accept his insurance. He found none. He settled on Dr. Levin, who persuaded him to get talk therapy from a psychologist and spent months adjusting a mix of medications that now includes different antidepressants and an antipsychotic. The man eventually returned to work and now goes out to movies and friends’ houses.

The man’s recovery has been gratifying for Dr. Levin, but the brevity of his appointments — like those of all of his patients — leaves him unfulfilled.

“I miss the mystery and intrigue of psychotherapy,” he said. “Now I feel like a good Volkswagen mechanic.”

“I’m good at it,” Dr. Levin went on, “but there’s not a lot to master in medications. It’s like ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ where you had Hal the supercomputer juxtaposed with the ape with the bone. I feel like I’m the ape with the bone now.”

The switch from talk therapy to medications has swept psychiatric practices and hospitals, leaving many older psychiatrists feeling unhappy and inadequate. A 2005 government survey found that just 11 percent of psychiatrists provided talk therapy to all patients, a share that had been falling for years and has most likely fallen more since. Psychiatric hospitals that once offered patients months of talk therapy now discharge them within days with only pills.

Recent studies suggest that talk therapy may be as good as or better than drugs in the treatment of depression, but fewer than half of depressed patients now get such therapy compared with the vast majority 20 years ago. Insurance company reimbursement rates and policies that discourage talk therapy are part of the reason. A psychiatrist can earn $150 for three 15-minute medication visits compared with $90 for a 45-minute talk therapy session.

Competition from psychologists and social workers — who unlike psychiatrists do not attend medical school, so they can often afford to charge less — is the reason that talk therapy is priced at a lower rate. There is no evidence that psychiatrists provide higher quality talk therapy than psychologists or social workers.

Of course, there are thousands of psychiatrists who still offer talk therapy to all their patients, but they care mostly for the worried wealthy who pay in cash. In New York City, for instance, a select group of psychiatrists charge $600 or more per hour to treat investment bankers, and top child psychiatrists charge $2,000 and more for initial evaluations.

When he started in psychiatry, Dr. Levin kept his own schedule in a spiral notebook and paid college students to spend four hours a month sending out bills. But in 1985, he started a series of jobs in hospitals and did not return to full-time private practice until 2000, when he and more than a dozen other psychiatrists with whom he had worked were shocked to learn that insurers would no longer pay what they had planned to charge for talk therapy.

CrossFit...... Sacrifice

Why we are different!

Mikko 40 minute AMRAP

Watch more video of Best CrossFit Gyms on sicfit.com

WOD's

Workout #1

Part 1:

Complete the following for time:

21-15-9

Burpees

Pull ups

Part 2:

Complete 3 rounds of:

Row 500m

50 airsquats

Workout #2

Complete the following:

21-18-15-12-9-6-3

DB cleans

Double unders

Push ups

Workout #3

Seven rounds of:

1 minute max distance run/row

1 minute max effort burpees

Rest 2 minutes

If you don't give up you don't fail