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Lead Stories: Friday, July 25, 2008

Quote of the Day: 2/28/08

Posted February 28th, 2008 at 8:30 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.”

- Dr. George Sheehan

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TFS Media’s Crib Sheet on Carbohydrate Cycling

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 11:05 AM by Shannon Martin

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov, Health & Fitness, Exercise

One of the more popular diet methods out there for athletes looking to improve performance is carbohydrate cycling. It is used by athletes with specific training goals and advising from experts. Not only does it help to ensure that your leptin levels (a hormone that regulates body fat and calorie intake) do not change drastically, but it helps keep energy levels up as well.

The body prefers to work off carbohydrates during exercise. While it can run effectively on fat if you work at a lower intensity, as soon as you try and perform high intensity work you will find yourself becoming fatigued, because your body needs glucose to rev up its engine for harder workouts.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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Mental Fitness:
Mind Over Matter

Posted October 8th, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

I recently came across this interesting article in the New York Times. It talks about mind over matter, how personal training sessions actually train your mind more than your body.

Mr. Fitzgerald, a 36-year-old running coach and racer who has written seven training books in the last four years, three for Runner’s World, gives unconventional advice. That is because his exercises are not meant to train your body. They are aimed at training your brain.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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Explaining Runner’s High

Posted September 25th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Ever feel unusually cheerful after hitting the gym or increasingly confident after finishing up laps at the track? You’re not alone. This state of happiness after exercise is known as “runner’s high,” and has been a point of interest for researchers and athletes for years.The question is, what exactly causes runner’s high? Turns out, it’s all about endorphins.

Quite simply, endorphins are hormones that your body manufactures during exercise that are found mainly in the pituitary gland and nervous system. The interesting thing about endorphins is that they are renowned for having morphine-like qualities. In other words, they act like naturally-produced painkillers and sedatives. And, as exercise is a form of stress on the body, by participating in physical activity you are helping to release surges of endorphins.

To read the rest of this entry, please visit our partner site: HesFit.com

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HAL’s Katie Drummond:
“My life as a runner began for all the wrong reasons”

Posted June 26th, 2007 at 4:07 PM by Katie Drummond

Section: Running & Training, Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Exercise, Weight Loss

In this column for our partner site, HerActiveLife.com, senior writer Katie Drummond writes about the tragic beginning to her running “career”, battling an eating disorder, turning her life around, and how running gave her the strength and determination to regain her health.

My life as a runner began for all the wrong reasons. Five years ago, at 16, I fell into the same trap as so many young girls, and my weight became equated with my self-worth. I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know why, but somehow I went to bed one night and woke up the next day with an absolute certainty that the number on the bathroom scale should naturally dictate how I felt about my body and my value as a partner, a student, a daughter, a woman.

It soon wasn’t enough that I was eating nothing but rice cakes spread with mustard for lunch or just skipping lunch (and breakfast, and dinner) entirely. When I couldn’t stand to keep starving myself and changed my tactics, the scale snidely informed me that, no, throwing up wouldn’t make me any better, prettier, or worthier either.

Fed up, I tried another means of self-improvement, and started forcing my exhausted teenaged body onto the family treadmill every night…

Read the rest of Katie’s entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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