In a previous post regarding Lance Armstrong’s marathon performance, I explored the heretical idea that there exists no general “conditioning” attribute; that aerobic capacity was activity-specific. With apologies to Greg Glassman, I’ll now explore the idea that the conventional idea of “cardio” simply doesn’t fly. Forget about the layperson; speak to any doctor, personal trainer, […]
Exercise Science
Synaptic Facilitation and Joint Pain.
My brother-in-law, knowing that I am currently on a quest to complete one-arm pullups, so thoughtfully bought me an over-the-door chinup bar for Christmas. Being that I’m returning from a little hiatus from my current routine of heavy one-arm negatives (joint soreness management), I figured that this situation would be a good time to experiment […]
More Reasons Not To Do Cardio.
I previously detailed that cardio makes you hungrier, causing you to eat more calories and to have an overall net calorie gain. Let’s go through some more reasons why doing cardio (aerobics) for fat loss may not be the best approach: 1) It burns fewer calories than you think. So you got on the elliptical […]
Another Reason NOT To Do Cardio For Fat Loss.
Another satisifying day on the slopes over. Ah, I do love snowboarding season. My friends and I took on a day’s worth of reasonably good East coast snowboarding over at Killington today. Yes, we suffered through the crowds. Yes, we suffered through the bitter winds and hardpack “snow.” And yes, we had a blast doing […]
Preseason Jitters and Motor Learning.
Hello from Vermont. I’m sitting on a bed in the middle of Mendon, Vermont, waiting for the morning, when I test out my snow legs and my (slightly impaired) right knee on Killington’s slopes for the first time this season. The first ride is always predictably terrible – all the old motor patterns take a […]
What Lab Mice Can Tell Us – Resveratrol.
Yikes, I’m soooo behind on these postings… So in case you haven’t heard, red wine (or, more accurately, a compound in grapes called resveratrol) will help you live a longer, active life, especially if you’re fat. Here’s the article: Compund in Red Wine Boosts Health of Obese Mice. Here are a few things about the […]
Congratulations, Lance.
24 hundredths of a second under your goal time – not bad for your first marathon! Hey, he did say he wanted to finish it in less than three hours… For every million human beings, there is one naturally gifted athlete. For every million athletes, there is one Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods. […]
The Father of Personal Training. And Milo.
There’s nothing new under the sun, as they say. Exercise has probably been around as long as the human race has been, albeit not in the systematized, efficient, psuedoscientific manner it exists in today. One no doubt has heard of the now legendary Milo of Croton, the Greek wrestler who “invented” progressive strength training sometime […]
Exercise = Recreation. Or Does It?
I’m often asked by my clients why I consider “exercise” to consist almost entirely of strength training, strength training, and some more strength training. After all, all the major certifying bodies in my industry call just about any sort of activity “exercise”; who am I to buck the system? Well, in my highfalutin’ perspective, I […]
Muscular Exhaustion.
Above: “Whew – I do believe my intramuscular pH levels have taken a nose-dive. Damn those H+ ions!!!” What happens when we reach muscular exhaustion? What is it, really? “True” muscular exhaustion occurs when physiological reasons (as opposed to say, psychological ones) conspire to impair and shut down muscular contraction. For example, if one runs […]