Knowledge Nuggets

Father’s Day is this Sunday! Although entering parenthood can be an exciting time, it comes with new challenges and responsibilities. This can often limit the amount of physical activity that fathers partake in. Research shows that fathers who maintain optimal physical activity levels have better physical and mental health, enhanced positive father-child bonding, and are...

You do not need special equipment to reap the physical and mental benefits of physical activity. Simple bodyweight exercises, like running in place and burpees, performed vigorously over short periods, can boost cardiorespiratory fitness. A big advantage of short bodyweight routines is that they don’t require extra time, motivation, or access to expensive gym equipment.

Olympic bronze medalist and former world champion mountain biker Catharine Pendrel gave birth to her first child, Dara, 6 months before she represented Canada in Tokyo for her fourth Olympic Games. In the lead up to the Games, Pendrel discovered that she’s actually a better parent when she makes time for physical activity. “It felt...

Do you like to stretch before going for a run? Research shows that short durations of dynamic stretching (up to 4 minutes) are the most beneficial for running performance if there are no further warm-up activities after stretching. Static stretching, on the other hand, has no effect on performance but can reduce acute injuries by...

The 3 E’s (Education, Enforcement and Engineering) of Injury Prevention offer a framework that can help guide the development of community-based, injury prevention programs and initiatives. Together, stakeholder education and training, preventative rules, policies, and regulations, and the development of products and technologies all contribute to a reduced injury risk.

Creating a healthy sport culture is critical for the prevention of relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). According to research, key prevention factors include education for athletes, coaches, trainers, administrators, parents and all involved in athlete care, and a zero-tolerance policy for toxic training environments or practices such as body shaming, over-exercising, and under-fuelling.

Female athletes may be at a higher risk of sustaining a concussion than male athletes. Evidence-informed strategies to help reduce concussion risk among women, girls and female athletes include encouraging them to check their helmet’s fit regularly and incorporating neck strengthening exercises into their training programs. 

All marathon runners know the feeling of “hitting the wall,” when their pace slows dramatically due to fatigue and depleted energy stores. In fact, new research finds that most runners hit the wall in the 33rd kilometer of a marathon, and that it is as much a psychological phenomenon as it is physiological. Being cheered...

For Masters athletes, a quality coach provides a range of benefits that distinguish training and competition from fitness or exercise. These include enhanced confidence, learning processes, lifestyle habits, and the creation of an environment that meets their need for affiliation.

When it comes to sedentary behaviour (waking time spent at rest in a sitting or reclined position), Canadian adults received a grade of F in the 2021 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Adults. Not surprisingly, more than 60% of Canadians reported spending more time using the internet and watching TV during the pandemic....