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Topic: Strength and bone

Strength, bone and evolution: what the evidence says

Everything this site carries on strength and bone, gathered in one place: the book's chapters and where they say to start, every popular claim they grade, and the reference topics and terms behind them.

1 chapter of the book2 graded claims4 reference topics120 sources

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Where does the book say to start on strength and bone?

Chapter 4: Load, Strength and Bone

  1. Two strength sessions a week, 20 to 30 minutes each

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

  2. Reach the daily protein range for your age

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

  3. Over 50, or told you have low bone mass: add heavier and impact loading, learned in person

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

The full protocol for Chapter 4

Which popular claims about strength and bone hold up?

  • Does a cold plunge after lifting hurt muscle growth?

    Wrong if building muscle is the goal.

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

  • Is more protein always better?

    False. Past a point, extra protein stops adding muscle.

    StrongEvidence grade: Strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials, or consistent large cohort studies with a well-understood mechanism.

What does the body expect, and what does it get now?

The mismatch cards of the reference topics behind these chapters, as the library states them.

  • Topic 6: The Sitting Disease

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Leg muscles, bones and joints, and the blood-sugar control that working muscle provides.

    What it expects
    Hours of walking and carrying, and rest in postures (squatting, kneeling, ground-sitting) that keep leg muscles working.
    What it gets
    About 7.7 sedentary hours a day for the average American, and too little activity for nearly a third of adults worldwide.
    What happens in the gap
    Higher blood sugar after meals within hours; lost fitness within weeks; bone loss within months when loading stops, and lighter skeletons over millennia; higher mortality where long sitting meets low activity.

  • Topic 7: The Foot That Forgot the Ground

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The foot, a sensing, spring-loaded base for walking, running and balance.

    What it expects
    Bare or thinly shod feet on varied ground, working the arch and toes daily.
    What it gets
    Cushioned, arch-supported, toe-sprung shoes on flat floors from early childhood.
    What happens in the gap
    Less ground feel, softened impacts of unknown cost, likely weaker foot muscles and, in some studies, flatter arches; in old age, weak toes and poor balance are linked to falls.

  • Topic 35: The Hallmarks of Aging

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    The cellular machinery of aging, named in 2023 as twelve hallmarks, from telomere attrition and disabled autophagy to chronic inflammation and dysbiosis.

    What it expects
    Muscles loaded most days, food that comes and goes, microbes, and stressors that end.
    What it gets
    Decades of low mechanical load, continuous food, and stress without resolution.
    What happens in the gap
    Strength falls away faster than age alone requires, while the processes that age cells run with fewer of the brakes the body evolved to apply.

  • Topic 40: The Handrail I: Move, Eat, Drink

    ProbableEvidence grade: Probable. Good observational evidence with a plausible mechanism, or small or few trials.

    Skeletal muscle, heart and lungs, the gut and the thirst reflex, all of them signal-driven.

    What it expects
    Several hours a day of unremarkable movement, occasional hard bursts, loads carried, food that spoils, and water when thirsty.
    What it gets
    About 5,100 steps, chairs, engines, food engineered to be eaten quickly, and a hydration industry.
    What happens in the gap
    Systems tuned by use drift downward in their sleep, and the drift shows up decades later as disease.

Terms

The chapters and reference topics on this page cite 120 distinct works, each listed on its own page and in the source register. Educational content, not medical advice; read the disclaimer.