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Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Q & A: Is stretching helpful or harmful for exercisers?

Posted November 30th, 2007 at 2:12 PM by Andrew Goodman

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Stretching the leg muscles improves muscle flexibility and strength, running speed, and jumping distance, according to a study from Louisiana State University (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, October 2007).

Stretching elongates muscles and tendons. Longer tendons allow muscles to exert a greater torque on the joint to exert more power to help you lift heavier, jump higher and run faster.

However, other studies show that you should not stretch before a competition involving speed and strength (Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, April 2006). The longer the athletes stretched, the weaker they became. Prolonged stretching fatigues muscle fibers so that they contract with reduced force.
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Strong Legs For Strong Knees

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Doctors have known for many years that having weak quad muscles (in the front of your upper legs) increases risk for damage to the cartilage in your knees. A study from Purdue University shows that strengthening these muscles slows down knee cartilage damage and may even improve knee function (Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2006).

The researchers placed 221 adults in their sixties and seventies either on a program of strengthening their muscles in their upper legs or just moving their knees in a series of range-of- motion exercises. The subjects exercised three times per week (twice at a fitness facility and once at home) for 12 weeks. This program was followed by a transition to home-based exercise for 12 months. Older people weaken naturally with aging, but the range of motion exercisers lost more strength than those who exercised against progressive resistance. The strength training helped retain joint space, signifying that this group had less loss of cartilage.

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Specificity of Bone Strength

Posted March 16th, 2007 at 4:00 PM by Jamal Walker

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

A study from Wolverhampton University in England shows that exercising to strengthen muscles strengthens the bones on which these same muscles attach.
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Running and the Maximum Heart Rate Formula

Posted December 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness

Many of the standard tests used to measure heart function are based on a nonsensical Maximum Heart Rate formula, that predicts the fastest your heart can beat and still pump blood through your body.

Although this formula is the golden standard used today, it is not based on science.

In 1970, a good friend, Sam Fox, was the director of the United States Public Health Service Program to Prevent heart disease. He is one of the most respected heart specialists in the world. He and a young researcher named William Haskell were flying to a meeting. They put together several studies comparing maximum heart rate and age.
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Do you recommend carrying weights while walking or jogging?

Posted December 4th, 2006 at 1:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

The only advantage to exercising while carrying weights is that you can get more exercise while moving slowly. To strengthen your heart, you have to exercise vigorously enough to increase your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute above resting.

How fast your heart beats depends on how much blood it has to pump to your body.

When you run and carry hand weights, your heart has to pump blood to your exercising leg muscles and also has to do extra work to pump blood to your arm muscles. Read the rest of this entry »

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Benefits of hill training & inclined runs

Posted December 2nd, 2006 at 11:00 AM by Jenna Sumara

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Many runners avoid hills like the plague. When mapping out routes for training runs or even races to run in, runners will stay as far away as possible from anything that even remotely resembles an incline. Often, if faced with no choice but to run the hill, runners will choose to walk it and reserve energy for the remainder (and flatter!) position of the route or course. While it’s true that hills can provide difficult, and even sometimes dangerous, challenges - runners can also derive tremendous benefits from the occasional hill workout. Read the rest of this entry »

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