Conditioning Research

There has been some interest in the papers about the amazing quads of the German cyclist Robert Forstemann There is a blog here that has pulled together a few more photos and videos of this guy. Tom Platz eat your heart out....

Tom Furman sent me a copy of his new ebook to review.  He sells a few ebooks which are all very good value, well produced and extremely accessible.  I've recommended his book 10 Exercises that will de-age your body by 10 years  to lots of people who just need a very simple set of moves. ACTIVATE - continues in that style.  At only $10 it is superb value, well designed and illustrated with clear photographs and simple explanations of the various stretches and mobility drills.  I am not really a fan of stretching as a warm up, but targeted stretching to promote and preserve appropriate flexibility- as Tom explains in the book - certainly has a role. Definitely worth your $10   You can download a copy here. I hope that Tom does't mind me taking a quote from the book, but this sums up his approach and interest:  what type of training should the person with no desire to compete, but who wants to improve both quality of life and longevi...

It is a theme that I've  had on here before - the importance of basic strength as people get older.  Balance is sometimes promoted as key to preventing falls in the elderly but sometimes the issue is not balance but strength. Here is a new study that highlights this principle: Effect of Lower Limb Strength on Falls and Balance of the Elderly (Full paper) Objective To assess the effect of lower limb strength on falls and balance in community-dwelling elderly persons by a health status questionnaire, evaluation of lower limb strength and balance. Method A total of 86 subjects (age 69.8±5.3) were categorized into one of two groups, "Fallers" and "Non-fallers". Thirty one participants who had reported the experience of having fallen unexpectedly at least once in the past year were assigned into the group "Fallers", and the remaining 55 subjects having no fall history in the past year, "Non-fallers". A self-assessmen...

Just wanted to point to a couple of interesting things I saw today.  I have remarked previously on this blog that the cool topics seem at the moment to be: the microbiome - the bacteria that live in and on us and have a profound impact on our health epigenetics - your genes are not your destiny, they do not provide an absolute blueprint, but a set of options;  it is the genes that are expressed / turned on that are important.  Lots of things in your environment - even before birth - control this. mitochondria - the strange little symbiotic organelles / primitive cells that live within our cells and are central to generating energy, oxidising fuel. Here are two stories that relate to a couple of these: Delivery by caesarean section and risk of obesity  - now fatter women often end up having c sections so that may be one factor, but I've also seen discussion that one element may be that a vaginal birth exposes the baby to essentil bacteria, prim...

This is a fascinating one.  It is all connected you know.  Emotion, performance, appearance.  Your posture and expression can be a window on your mental and physical state.  It is not only that you feelings can affect your posture and your facial expression - you look dejected or unhappy - it seems that your expression can affect your feelings.....smiling makes things feel better. This was reported today - Smiling Facilitates Stress Recovery The results of the study suggest that smiling may actually influence our physical state: compared to participants who held neutral facial expressions, participants who were instructed to smile, and in particular those with Duchenne ( genuine ) smiles, had lower heart rate levels after recovery from the stressful activities. The participants who held chopsticks in a manner that forced them to smile, but were not explicitly told to smile as part of the training, also reported a smaller decrease in positive affect compared to ...

People keep sending me jumps...here is a 60" one......

Reader Justin Martirano sent me this stunning jump video of him  getting 51.5" Long time reader, love your site. Saw your box jump post today and thought I'd forward my last high box jump. Next time I'll go for 9 plates.  Wow!  Let me know when you get the 9 Justin!