April 2023 Walk – and Run – Smarter, Not Harder for Knee Health Several years ago, research started demonstrating that gait changes might reduce knee loads, especially for runners. Some of this was prompted by studies on barefoot or minimalist-shoe running. We’ve discussed these issues here, here, here, and here. Those studies demonstrated that kneeRead More
running
REAL News – November 2020
November 2020 Is There a Gender Difference in How Runners Use Glycogen Intuitively, it would be difficult to posit that male and female runners use glycogen differently at similar intensities in different environments and in similar muscles. Glycogen is stored sugar in the muscle (and liver) that is readily available for energy production. AndRead More
REAL News – October 2020
October 2020 Progression & Running Injuries: Volume vs Intensity Running injuries are a bane to both the athletes and the healthcare system. Not only do the interfere with the joys and thrills of running recreationally and competitively, they contribute to emotional downers and economic consequences. One issue that has been questioned is, do increasesRead More
REAL News – July 2019
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
Barefoot Running, Minimalist Shoes – Revisited
I have written many times such as here, here, here, here and here on this topic inspired by different articles and studies, so why not revisit the topic one more time, maybe one last time. So this article from 2010 raises hope that maybe we can summarize the information and move on to the nextRead More
Running and Knee Arthritis
For starters, let’s separate the two main arthritises we often conflate. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an auto-immune disease whereby the body mistakenly attacks itself as if the target tissue is an outside threat. In the case of RA, the cartilage which protects the ends of bones that make up a joint get damaged during anRead More
Gadgets of Fitness, Unchained
The advent of microtechnologies has opened up avenues of function, commerce and study that make the old cordless phone an anachronism from the previous century. Whereas making a phone call once tethered you to the wall, today you can hike the Rockies and tell mom in England you’re feet don’t even hurt. In real time!Read More
A Little Dark Chocolate Helps You Go a Looong Way
Are you an endurance athlete looking for an edge? Would you like a way to get more oxygen to the working muscles, and the heart, that is legal, safe and tasty? Would you believe that dark chocolate, which has already been shown to be beneficial to health if eaten in modest amounts, can enhance oxygenRead More