The Greater Incidence of ACL Injuries in Females: Risk Factors and Prevention
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the ligaments inside the knee joint. Connecting the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shinbone), it limits the forward translation of the tibia to prevent it from sliding too far forward, and contributes to the rotational stability of the knee. ACL sprains and tears are one of…
How Can You Adapt Your Exercise Plans to Your Travel?
Be it for business or for pleasure, travelling often shakes up your normal schedule. Meals, sleep, and fitness routines change to accommodate meetings or activities. Travel doesn’t need to set you back from your fitness goals, though. There are several strategies you can use while on the road to help you stay in shape without…
HIITing the Gym: The Science of High Intensity Interval Training
Key Points: For sedentary populations, HIIT is the most time efficient – not necessarily the best – training type to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity Elite athletes can include HIIT training to improve their lactate response and improve performance even after hitting a VO2max plateau There remain many questions about how HIIT works, best practices,…
Static vs Dynamic Stretching
Warming up is essential for athletic performance, not only does it get the body ready to train or compete, it can improve performance and help prevent injury as well. And one of the essential parts of the warmup is stretching those muscles out. However, there has been a long time debate going on over the…
Variable resistance training: Adding a link to the chain!
Strength training has been a staple part of any athlete’s training program for years and there are many variations that can be applied to standard strength training scenarios to capitalize on building strength. Where strength training can sometimes be seen as one dimensional, efforts to expand on this training to a multidimensional development of strength,…
Sport Injury – Healing the Mind and Body
Most athletes, competitive through recreational, experience injury in their sport at some time. There are many practitioners out there who can help heal the physical symptoms of the injury from the family doctor to the physical therapist. But dealing with the physical side of injury is only half the battle. What we cannot forget to address…
“You Are What You Eat” – Fueling up for Competition
Knowing what to eat and when to eat for sports can seem like a science. Don’t let all the information out there leave you frazzled and hungry. For the everyday athlete a little preparation can make it very simple! The phrase “you are what you eat” is true. Nutrition can play a key role in…
Attention Training in Young Elite Athletes – Highlights from Recent Research
In the arena of sport psychology, research around attention and its relationship to athletic performance has been around for a number of years. Much of this research has focused on athlete training, and deliberate practice in particular, when it comes to developing potential talent in young athletes. Though the old saying seems to indicate that…
Preventing infection and maintaining immune function using nutritional strategies
It is well documented that moderate exercise prevents many infections and greatly improves immune system function. In contrast, among elite athletes who train at a faster pace and at a higher intensity, the risk of illness increases significantly and the effectiveness of the immune system to fight infections is reduced. Other factors, including exposure to…
Polarized Training: How do elite endurance athletes actually train?
Training intensity and how to distribute it within the training plan is a highly debated topic in the endurance community. The success of the Dutch Olympic speed skating team at the Sochi Winter Games and a study on how they train and distribute training intensities has shed a light on how elite endurance athletes actually…