The Best Health and Fitness Articles of the Week #87 – Deadlift Tips, a Guide to Caffeine and Beating Insomnia

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.

14 Deadlift Tips and Tricks

I knew I had to include this in my weekly roundup as soon as I read the last paragraph in the very first tip. There’s a ton of great deadlift information here.


Clint Darden on Rehabbing Back Pain

Have you ever thought of using a car buffer to rehab your back? I haven’t. There are lots of other great tips here too. I’ve never heard of Clint Darden before, but this guy definitely knows what he’s talking about.


StrongLifts 5×5 Workout A: Full Video Demonstration

This is a really long video (30 minutes), but Mehdi provides a whole bunch of great tips about the 5×5 program as he actually completes an entire workout. It’s really helpful if you have any questions about the program.


4 Weeks to Big Arms

I must admit, this program sure does sound enticing. Shoot! I can’t help myself. It’s only 4 weeks so I’m gonna take a break from my routine and try this one out.


The Ultimate Guide to Caffeine

Awesome article and I love this quote “Caffeine is kind of like getting a green shell in Mario Kart – itโ€™s readily available, can certainly help you win, but has to be used properly or it can end up doing more harm than good.”


Is Alcohol Good or Bad For Health?

This article goes through the pros and cons of drinking alcohol, how alcohol is processed by the body and the best ways for you to consume alcohol so that it doesn’t effect your health.


The Virtual Squat Seminar

This one covers everything when it comes to squatting – depth, stance, hand position, mobility, bar position, knee pain, and proper footwear.


How To Hack Your Sleep, Beat Insomnia & Get Into A Deep Sleep Phase As Fast As Possible

Ben Greenfield provides a whole bunch of great tips on improving sleep by using technology, gadgets and supplements.

The Best Fitness Articles of the Week #67 – Why the Paleo Diet is Uncivilized, More Deadlift Tips and a DIY Wrist Roller

Here’s a recap of the best health and fitness articles I’ve read over the past week.


McDougall Newsletter: June 2012 – The Paleo Diet is Uncivilized (And Unhealthy and Untrue)

I haven’t looked into all of the claims made in this article yet, or the sources making these claims, but based on a lot of the reading I’ve done in the past, I believe that a lot of it is true. The one problem I have with this article is that the author is pushing a book about becoming a “starchivore,” and that just sounds crazy to me. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t make a judgement based simply on the title, but after reading the Thrive books from Brendan Brazier, I’m not sure a high-starch diet is good for an athlete, or anyone else.


19 Tips for the Deadlift

I posted an article last week that was very similar to this one, but the deadlift is such an important lift, that I don’t think it hurts to pound this info into your head some more.


If You Only Do One Type of Weight Training, Do Squats

I’m always trying to tell my friends and family that they should be including the squat into their workout routines. Some get it, others probably never will. I’ll just have to continue sending articles like this to them ๐Ÿ˜‰


Ask The Ripped Dude: Cardio Before Or After Weights?

Obi Obadike, the author, recommends cardio after lifting weights because if you do it before, it can zap all of your energy and can make your weight lifting sessions miserable. I would agree. I’ve tried programs that suggested cardio before lifting weights and I definitely felt my weight training sessions suffer. He also claims that weight training will burn off glycogen stores first, then cardio will burn more fat.


Achieve Olympic feet with barefoot running

The study group in this one was small at only 18 highly trained runners, but it’s still worth reviewing and thinking about. The study showed that barefoot running resulted in the runners using less oxygen and it also increased their performance by 3%. One other interesting note is that barefoot runners are thought to have a lower risk of injury due to altering their strike pattern when hitting the ground because they tend to strike the ground with the mid-foot, which is more cushioned than the rest of the foot.


DIY : How to Build a Wrist Roller

I’ve actually thought about doing this before, but now that I’ve seen a functional example, I’ll probably finally give it a try. It shouldn’t cost more than a few bucks.


7 Squat Tips from Coach Nick

I was hoping an article like this would show up in my feed soon. This one tackles just about everything; hip pain, bar placement, increasing intensity, reps and midrange partials, contrast training, hybrid protocols, and gender differences. The only thing missing is a section on how stance effects the knees, which is what I’m really interested in.