March 2024 Can Weight Vests Answer All Your Fitness Needs? Weight vests (WV) getting some media attention. These are either fixed or adjustable velcro-fitted vests that presumably enhance one or more elements of fitness and wellness training. A deep-dive into the science of WV reveals some benefits worth considering. For example, a study in RheumatologyRead More
bone density
REAL News – March 2023
March 2023 Get a Grip on Better MENTAL Health In January, REAL News reported on a study in MSSE (Nov. 2022) that demonstrated substantial correlations between handgrip strength (HGS) and overall health and function in older adults. Now, a December 2022 article in the British Journal of Psychiatry adds to the value of HGS forRead More
REAL News – November 2021
November 2021 How to Catch Your Breath….and Why We Bend Forward While trekking one of the trails of the Grand Canyon this past May, I found myself sucking wind on the long uphill climb. And wondered, why do I bend forward propping myself up with hands on knees, like any athlete who’s winded after aRead More
REAL News – April 2020
April 2020 Non-Functional Overreaching vs Overtraining Syndrome Athletes who train and compete hard and long can work themselves to ‘death’, to where they actually stop improving and may start backsliding. Non-functional overreaching (NFO) is considered a short-term reduction in work capacity (reduced strength, power, speed, endurance) lasting a few weeks or months. Overtraining syndromeRead More
Fit Happens – Winter 2019
Winter – or 30th Anniversary – 2019 Pillar 1: The Winter of Our Discontent In the summer of 1986, my colleague, Kathy Alexander, and I wondered what we would do once we finished our dissertations in exercise science at Vandy. At the time, there were very few options in that field: academia, hospital-based wellness andRead More
REAL News – August 2019
August 2019 High School Sports & Adult Bone Strength In May 2019, we reported on how youth sports injuries may impact adult-onset osteoarthritis, especially if proper care and training were not followed. Now this study from the University of Iowa reports that high school sports participation confers long-lasting bone health benefits compared to those whoRead 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