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Lead Stories: Saturday, July 19, 2008

Q&A: Does caffeine really improve athletic performance, or do you just feel more alert?

Posted January 24th, 2008 at 10:15 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: Nutrition, Supplements, Health & Fitness, Exercise

In endurance events, the first cause of fatigue is loss of muscle sugar, so athletes do whatever they can to preserve sugar levels. Caffeine causes the body to produce large amounts of adrenalin, which causes fat to be released from fat cells and float in the bloodstream.

This extra fat is taken up by the muscles and used for energy, thus preserving the body’s limited stored supply of muscle sugar. When muscles run our of sugar, the athlete requires more oxygen to do the same job, slows down, fatigues earlier, and has difficulty maintaining his performance.
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Low Blood Sugar Causes Mental Fatigue During Competition

Posted November 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Martha Jones

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

Athletes can expect to feel fatigued when their blood sugar levels drop. Researchers at Loughborough University, UK showed that athletes who did not take sugar during soccer competition lasting 90 minutes felt more tired, had less competitive desire, and had far lower blood sugar levels than athletes who took a sugared drink every 15 minutes during their game (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, October 2007).

Your brain gets more than 98 percent of its energy from sugar in the bloodstream. However there is only enough sugar in the bloodstream to last about three minutes. The liver must constantly release sugar into the bloodstream, but there is only enough sugar in the liver to last eight hours during rest and far less than that during exercise. So athletes who do not take a source of sugar during events lasting more than an hour can suffer the psychological effects of low blood sugar levels what include a mental feeling of fatigue and lowered competitive desire.
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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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Tapering for Athletes and Ordinary Exercisers

Posted October 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 AM by Adam Berger

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

Tapering refers to the period just before a major race or game, when an athlete reduces workload to be in peak shape on the day of the competition. Ordinary exercisers can apply this training principle when they plan to enter a local race or charity event.

Top athletes must spend a tremendous amount of time training to be able to compete successfully. Their huge volume of work leaves them near exhaustion and before major competitions, they have to find the best way to reduce fatigue while retaining fitness. Many studies have been done to help athletes and coaches decide on the best strategy.

Researchers at the University of Montreal compiled the results of 27 scientifically acceptable studies. They concluded that the best duration of tapering is two weeks, the optimum training volume reduction is by 40 to 60 percent, and the intensity of workouts should be maintained (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2007).

Training load during taper: Almost all of the studies agree that athletes should reduce the amount of work they do. While each athlete must decide on his optimal reduction, many bicycle racers drop from up to 400 miles a week down to fewer than 200, and many runners drop from above 100 miles to fewer than 40.
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Repetition Increases Efficiency

Posted September 8th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Training is specific, so the more you practice your sport, the better you are able to do it. That’s why triathletes who compete and train in three sports are relatively mediocre in each sport when compared to those who only run, cycle or swim. (Sports Biomechanics, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2007).

In this study, elite cyclists produced significantly more effective force on their pedals than triathletes. They had far less wasted side-to-side motion, and they required less oxygen to do the same amount of work.

Repeating the same motion over and over causes your muscles to become more efficient so they can generate more power with less oxygen. For example, when you run, you use your arms to maintain your center of gravity. When your right leg moves forward, so does your left arm; your left leg and right arm move backward.
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Q&A: Will following a low- carbohydrate diet help me run faster?

Posted August 17th, 2007 at 10:30 AM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov

There is no evidence that it will. Runners get fuel for their muscles from fat and sugar in muscles, fat and sugar in the bloodstream and, to a lesser degree, from protein. The key to increasing endurance for racing is to store as much sugar in muscles before you race and keep it there as long as possible. Muscle sugar gives you the most energy for the least amount of oxygen.

Restricting carbohydrates does not stimulate muscles to store more sugar (Sports Medicine, April-May 2007). A low carbohydrate diet may impair performance if carried out for extended periods because a runner cannot train on a low- carbohydrate diet.
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Preserve muscle sugar for speed and endurance

Posted August 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Martha Jones

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

How fast you can move and how long you can exercise intensely depends on the amount of sugar (glycogen) stored in your muscles. The same rule applies in all sports: when muscles run out of their stored sugar supply, they require more oxygen and you have to slow down.

Fluid is less important than muscle sugar because dehydration will not cause you to slow down until your blood volume is reduced. As you lose fluid from sweating, interstitial fluid stored around cells is released into the blood to maintain blood volume. When you compete is sports at a very high intensity, your muscles run out for stored sugar long before your blood volume is reduced, and you slow down from lack of muscle sugar before you slow down from reduced blood volume (Sports Medicine, April- May 2007).
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Doping with blood substitute has negative impact on performance

Posted June 28th, 2007 at 3:53 PM by Courtney Albon

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Nutrition, Supplements, Health & Fitness, Drugs In Sports

Attempts to enhance performance with a doping agent called Hemopure, may not be worth the effort. According to a recent study, the blood substitute intended to strengthen patients with anemia, may actually do the opposite for elite athletes seeking a boost in endurance.

Hemopure is a blood substitute derived from cow’s blood that serves to deliver Oxygen throughout the body at a faster rate and is intended for individuals with a low count of red blood cells. The drug was approved in South Africa in 2001 and has recently been made available in some parts of Europe, but only to be used as a strengthening agent for anemic patients.

In the past, Athletes have used a product called EPO, also a drug used by anemic patients, but doctors say that the increased amount of oxygen that Hemopure delivers to the body, sets it apart from EPO and similar drugs.

Athletes who use Hemopure in search of strengthened endurance may be disappointed, however, as recent studies reported in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, have found that Hemopure does little to improve performance.
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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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Does your heart get tired when running and/or during other types of exercise?

Posted March 26th, 2007 at 9:59 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

A healthy heart is so strong that it is almost never a cause of tiredness during exercise.

Tiredness during exercise comes from your muscles. They run out of fuel or out of oxygen. Skeletal muscles use both fat and sugar for energy.

When your muscles run out of their stored sugar supply, called glycogen, they cannot contract and function adequately. You feel tired, your muscles hurt and you have difficulty coordinating them.

On the other hand, your heart muscle gets energy directly from fat and sugar in your blood and even from a breakdown product of metabolism called lactic acid. It is virtually impossible for the heart muscle to run out of fuel unless you are starving to death.
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