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
bone density
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
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 – 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
The Heritability of Your Fitness Traits
You know your height, hair color, eye color, skin texture, intelligence, etc are things that get passed on from your ancestors through genes, but did you know that there are limits and capacities for your strength, endurance, ability to improve fitness, etc are also heritable? Well, this article in the Express Tribune with the NYTRead More