When I started graduate school at Peabody College, which was not yet a part of Vanderbilt University, to study exercise science – which was technically not a major field of study but was the area of health and physical education in which I was interested – I had to take some ‘soft’ courses. That is,Read More
field of health or exercise science
Part 1: The Diet-Obesity Debates Continue
There are two crises – other than political and covid-19 – that America, and maybe the modern, Westernized world in general, though also the rest of the world everywhere, must face that will destroy humankind: obesity and diet. And the fitness community, especially us professionals, has to accept our roles as potential solutions and causes.Read More
REAL News – July 2020
July 2020 Personal Training & Gym Convenience = Better Fitness Workplace fitness centers offer otherwise-sedentary employees an on-site option by which to develop and maintain exercise-based fitness. Encouraging staff to take advantage of the facilities and services, however, is the first challenge. One idea that should be considered is more personalized supervision to provideRead More
Fit Happens – Spring 2020
Spring 2020 The Year of the Coronavirus It is hard to understate the impact of a pandemic on the personal, professional, economic and political lives of a society, especially one that includes everyone across the globe. The sudden spread and fearful consequences of a what’s called ‘novel’ coronavirus – Covid-19 – has sequestered students atRead More
Feet: From the Ground Up
For a few years, while she was establishing herself as a neuromuscular expert on feet, Dr. Emily Splichal, a NYC podiatrist, was a source of highly technical yet superbly functional webinars (this is but one link on youtube) on the foot. I would strongly recommend them to anyone who works with athletes prone to footRead More
Pain: The Fitness Dilemma Discussed in Hush Tones
A provocative article in the New York Times back in December 2019 offers a layman’s perspective on pain that raises more questions than it answers. In brief, it posits the prevalent theory that the brain perceives some ‘sensation’ and then labels it ‘pain’ in some instances and some people but not in all. So let’sRead 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 – November 2019
November 2019 Running Economy and How You Run MaxVO2 is your body’s maximal oxygen uptake and use capacity. But this only tells how fit you are while your running economy (RE) tells how much energy you use relative to the distance you run. And it’s a better predictor of your racing skills. A study fromRead More