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Our purpose here is to show specifically how a simple goal, like rowing a seven-minute two thousand meters, can not only be systematically and deliberately approached from multiple protocols, but can generally encourage similar thinking in pursuing other fitness milestones.

The 2019 CrossFit Health Conference will take place July 31 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin. There, CrossFit Health will continue its annual tradition of bringing together world-class thinkers from the scientific and CrossFit communities to explore the devolution of science and the ills of modern medicine. This year, speakers will discuss three central themes — the war on cholesterol and fat, the metabolic effects of low-carb diets, and the widespread sacrifice of scientific truth on the altar of the pharmaceutical industry — all through the lens of their personal experiences with “The Mess.”

In 1993, Prof. Peter C. Gøtzsche co-founded the famous Cochrane Collaboration, an organization formed to conduct systematic reviews of medical research in the interest of promoting unbiased evidence-based science. During his tenure with Cochrane, Gøtzsche fought to uphold its original values. However, when Gøtzsche attempted to correct the path of consensus science or point to industry-related bias, Cochrane sought to censor him and eventually expelled him in 2018 after what he calls a Kafkaesque “show trial.” Here, Gøtzsche shares the research that led to his fallout with Cochrane as well as his firsthand experiences witnessing the organization’s moral collapse.

Prof. Tim Noakes describes Gerald Reaven’s research on the carbohydrate metabolisms of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD), which demonstrated patients with hypertriglyceridemia were more likely to be insulin resistant. Noakes also highlights a series of studies conducted by Reaven and colleagues that explored the effects of high- and low-carbohydrate diets on blood triglyceride concentrations — studies that ultimately revealed the American Diabetes Association’s high-carb, low-fat dietary recommendations may have been increasing diabetics’ risk of CHD.

“A low-sodium diet has a shaky foundation in heart failure, a systematic review showed. Out of more than 2,600 studies on sodium restriction in heart failure, only nine small trials with a total sample of 479 -- none of which were free from bias -- made it into an analysis by a group led by Kamal Mahtani, PhD, of the University of Oxford, England. In the end, the investigators found ‘no clinically relevant data on whether reduced dietary salt intake affected outcomes such as cardiovascular-associated or all-cause mortality, cardiovascular-associated events, hospitalization, or length of hospital stay,’ they reported online in JAMA Internal Medicine.”

This 2016 trial found that 12 weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) significantly improved cardiometabolic function and liver fat content in diabetic subjects. HIIT subjects saw significant increases in a variety of markers of cardiovascular health, including healthful regeneration of cardiac muscle tissue and improved cardiac contractile capabilities, as well as reversal of certain forms of cardiovascular degeneration associated with Type 2 diabetes. The same subjects also showed a 39% decrease in mean liver fat content, with four of the 11 subjects in the HIIT group seeing a reduction from clinically significant liver fat levels to “normal” liver fat.

Saved by the Barbell is an annual Labor Day fundraiser workout hosted by the CrossFit Foundation and taking place at participating CrossFit affiliates around the world. All proceeds from the workout support school teachers, students, parents, coaches, trainers, and administrators building CrossFit programs in their schools and communities. Registration for Saved by the Barbell 2019 is now live.

This 2018 paper substantiates previous evidence indicating metformin diminishes the beneficial effects of exercise on insulin sensitivity. Metformin is the most widely prescribed medication for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and more recently has been promoted as a general anti-aging drug. However, this trial’s authors observe that taking metformin alongside exercise inhibits two of the major benefits attributed to exercise (improvements in insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular fitness). They thus suggest recommendations to prescribe metformin broadly as an anti-aging medication are premature, as the drug may accelerate key elements of age-related metabolic degeneration.

"A popular diabetes drug sometimes taken to slow aging may diminish some of the expected health benefits of aerobic exercise in healthy older adults, according to a new report. The drug, metformin, can blunt certain physical changes from exercise that normally help people to age well. The results raise questions about the relationship of pills and physical activity in healthy aging and also whether we know enough about how drugs and exercise interact. The results are particularly disconcerting given that healthy, active people may be considering taking the drug to slow aging. Metformin currently is the most-prescribed medication globally for people with Type 2 diabetes."