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Lead Stories: Sunday, September 7, 2008

Longer Lower Legs =
More Efficient Running

Posted October 29th, 2007 at 3:30 PM by Allyson Rosen

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

People who have longer lower leg lengths (the distance from knee to ankle) will usually have greater endurance during running or walking than those with shorter lower leg lengths.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin showed that people with longer lower legs use less energy when they run (Journal of Human Evolution, August 2007).

In a previous paper in the same journal, these authors showed that people with longer lower legs are better able to prevent heat build-up, which slows you down and makes you tired. When you exercise, almost 80 percent of the energy that you use to power your muscles is lost as heat.
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Q&A: Should I exercise outside on days when air pollution is heavy?

Posted September 7th, 2007 at 7:50 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

It’s healthful to exercise and harmful to breathe polluted air, so how can you decide whether you are doing more harm than good?

The worst time for pollution is when clouds cover the sky and automobiles fill the roads. Automobile exhaust fumes are the principal source of air pollution in most cities, and overlying clouds increase pollution. Usually the sun’s rays heat the ground to warm air closest to the ground. Hot air rises, taking large amounts of pollutants skyward. On air inversion days, the clouds prevent the sun’s rays from getting through to the ground, so the air near the ground is not heated, remains colder and doesn’t rise, causing the air with its pollutants to remain close to the ground.

Air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, ozone, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide can damage your lungs. When you exercise . . .
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Baking soda may help athletes to exercise longer

Posted April 10th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, is used as a medication to neutralize stomach acid in ulcer patients and as a home remedy for stomach distress.

Now researchers in Greece have shown that it may neutralize the acid in muscles during intense exercise and helps athletes to exercise longer (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise).

If you run or cycle as hard as you can, you start to breathe hard, and suddenly your leg muscles start to burn because your muscles have become acidic. It’s the burning in your muscles that forces you to slow down.
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Train your muscles to use lactic acid as fuel

Posted January 6th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

You exercise so intensely that your muscles burn and you gasp for breath. Then you slow down for a minute or two, catch your breath, and then go very fast again. This training technique has been used in all endurance sports since the 1920’s. Now George Brooks of the University of California at Berkeley has shown why interval training makes you a better athlete.

Inside each muscle cell are mitochondria, the little furnaces that burn fuel for energy. A major fuel for your muscles during exercise is the sugar, glucose. In a series of chemical reactions, glucose is broken down step by step, with each step releasing energy. When enough oxygen is available, the glucose releases all of its energy until only carbon dioxide and water remain; these are blown off through your lungs.
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