July 2019 Running Faster Doesn’t Increase Joint Load, Possibly Most people, athletes included, think that running faster means running harder. That is, that the cumulative loads are increased by hitting the ground with more force per stride. Yet some studies have suggested that fast running, as in interval sprints, actually reduces the impact loads onRead More
Newsletters
REAL News – June 2019
June 2019 Do Kids’ Fitness and Fatness Affect Academics? Most studies that compare kids’ academic performance to their cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), motor function (MF) and body composition (BC) are cross-sectional. As other posts have noted, kids’ fitness affects future outcomes, as in this and this. That is, they compare groups of kids at a single momentRead More
REAL News – May 2019
May 2019 Youth Sports Injuries Contribute to Osteoarthritis Risk Later That little knee injury you suffered in PE or youth sports programs may impact your health by the time you graduate college. A Canadian study of adults who sustained an injury before they were 18 tried to summarize “various clinical, physiological, behavioral and functional health-relatedRead More
REAL News – April 2019
April 2019 How Much Do You Have to Lift to Get Strong…or Big? A study that evaluated the required volume of weight lifting exercises necessary to effect muscle strength and size (hypertrophy) made all the news at the end of 2018. In what might be considered a large study of this type, 45 healthy, youngRead More
REAL News – March 2019
March 2019 Old Folks’ Drop-Out Rates & Predictors Matter A multi-national study followed 1514 male and female Norwegians (avg. age 72) participating in a structured exercise program for 3 years. All subjects were tested for cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, body mass index (BMI), and mental and physical health, including medications. One half was offered 2Read More
Fit Happens – Spring 2019
Spring 2019 Another Fitness Myth, Busted! What’s it going to take before people stop believing that exercise is medicine; that exercise is beneficial to not just physical health but even brain health; not just brain health as in cognitive function but in emotional well-being? How much more data is required before even those who abhorRead More
REAL News – February 2019
February 2019 Just a Spoonful of Protein Helps the Knee Replacement Patient A University of Oregon study asked the question whether the supplementation of essential amino acids (EAA), the building blocks of protein, would safely help older total knee replacement (TKR) patients maintain leg muscle mass. The typical response to TKR is further atrophy ofRead More
REAL News – January 2019
January 2019 Within-Session Muscle Confusion Helps Older Adults Muscle confusion – the concept of doing pretty high intensity exercises in rapid sequence varying body parts and muscle groups – is a 21st century marketing pitch. Periodization – the idea that a training program should be divided into various elements on daily, weekly or monthly basisRead More
REAL News – December 2018
December 2018 Training the Respiratory-side of Cardiorespiratory Health Not a day goes by without some mention on the news, or at your doctor’s office, of your cardiovascular health. Blood pressure, cholesterol, disease-risk, etc. But, unless you’ve had problems with the lungs, few of us consider the respiratory side of the formula. In exercise science, weRead More
REAL News – November 2018
November 2018 When Hip Structure Compromises Hip Motion A more recent diagnostic of hip deformity, along with a more recent surgical procedure to manage it (thanks to the work of a Nashville orthopedist), has helped explain a lot of athletes’, and even non-athletes’, groin pain. Called femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), it is essentially a recognitionRead More