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1. How hot is too hot to exercise outside?
Getting acclimated to the heat, exercising in shade and listening to your body can keep you safer if you’re exercising outdoors in a heat wave.
As climate change leads to record-high temperatures around the world, dangerously hot days are prompting questions about when it’s too hot to exercise outdoors.
The stakes are high. The consequences of a too-hot workout “range from feeling thirsty to death,” said Clare Minahan, a sports scientist at Griffith University in Australia. But figuring out when to trade that woodsy running path for the old treadmill is not as easy as glancing at a thermometer.
Is there a simple rule I can follow?
Every body and every environment is different, experts caution. “There’s no magic formula,” Minahan said. “When I talk about a hard-and-fast number, the amount of gray area around that is quite enormous.”
More...from The Washington Post.
2.How to Bulletproof Yourself Against IT Band Syndrome:
There's conflicting and inconclusive evidence on how to properly treat IT band syndrome. We break down some of these common treatments so you can get back to your sport better than before.
If you’re a runner or cyclist, you’ve probably heard of the pesky iliotibial band. In fact, the IT band accounts for at least 12-15% of endurance athletes’ injuries. [1] Despite pain in the IT band being a prevalent condition, the mechanisms that cause pain to the lateral knee and the interventions to treat it are still lacking. It can be immensely frustrating to figure it out and get back to what you love.
We’re going to break down what’s known about IT band syndrome, what you shouldn’t do, and what you can add to the mix to solve that pain.
What is IT band syndrome (ITBS)?
The iliotibial band is a band of soft tissue that begins superiorly from your tensor fasciae latae (TFL) and gluteus maximus. From those muscles, it becomes purely fascial as it travels down the lateral part of your thigh and inserts onto your tibia. As you bend your knee, it is theorized that the IT band creates a compressive force at your femoral condyle (next to your knee) directly over a fat pad. This fat pad is innervated and communicates to your brain that you’re in pain.
More...from Fast Talk Laboratories.
3. How much does arm swing affect running speed?
A recent study suggests that the correlation between arm movement and sprint speed may be overrated.
You’ve likely heard a coach tell you at some point in your athletic career that “if you move your arms faster, your legs will go with them.” Sprinters, in particular, have likely spent hours over the course of their sprint training practising their arm carriage, with specific form drills and working on their arms in the gym to build size and power. But is the correlation between arm swing and sprint speed overblown? Researchers out of Southern Methodist University and Westchester University think it might be.
The study, published in the journal Gait and Posture, found that when athletes sprinted for 30 metres with their arms crossed over their chests, they were nearly as fast as when they were sprinting with their normal arm swing. On average, participants’ sprint time only slowed down by 0.08 seconds. “Our findings suggest the classic view that arm swing directly drives leg motion to affect performance is not well-supported,” said Peter Weyand, one of the researchers who published the findings.
More...from Canandian Running Magazine.
4. The Full-Body Pool Workout That Doesn’t Involve Swimming:
This 20-minute aquatic exercise routine is easy on the joints and provides a fun alternative to the gym, especially in summer.
When Kelly Amerson López discovered aquatic exercise, it was nothing like she expected. She was in her 30s and a fitness buff who ran half marathons in Central Park. One day at the gym, she stumbled upon a group of people using the pool. They were running in place and pivoting in chest-deep water, and the instructor sounded more like a drill sergeant than a water aerobics teacher.
“They looked like they were getting a great workout,” she said.
Ms. López began taking water exercise classes and found that running in deep water helped her develop more upper body strength than running on land. Now 68, she’s incorporated pool exercises into her workout routine ever since.
Pool workouts are often associated with seniors or people recovering from injuries, but they can also be a form of high intensity interval training (HIIT) that is different, and lower impact, than what you experience on land. For example, it’s easier to balance on one foot without falling or do explosive jumps in which your knees come all the way up to your chest.
More...from The New York Tines.
5. How To Keep Cool While Running in Summer Heat:
All winter long, we complain about the wind and the cold, the snow and the sleet, telling ourselves we can’t wait to run shirtless or in sports bras, basking in the summer sun. And then summer is here. Can it be winter already?
Of course, some of you have zero issues, no matter the time of year (we’re looking at you, Bay Area residents). Meanwhile, those of us East of the Mississippi and south of the Mason Dixon are taking outdoor baths in a mix of sweat and humidity, and we’re not even talking about Texas and Florida, aka the broiler racks of America.
Some of you are smart and actually have treadmills or gym memberships for days when the mercury melts; the rest of us are either stubborn, poor, or a combination of both, insisting on enduring the elements. This post is for us. While it may not be an exhaustive list of tips and tricks, it should be enough to keep you as comfortable as possible from June to August.
And we’re always welcome to hear your advice, so please leave it in the comments below.
More...from Belive in the Run.
6. UCI Reverses Course, Bans Transgender Women From Racing in Women’s Category:
Today the UCI released its updated transgender policy.
The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announced a revised transgender policy that effectively ends competition at the highest level for transgender athletes who have gone through puberty, citing scientific data.
This decision comes months after UCI was criticized for its transgender policy after transgender cyclist Austin Killips took the general classification win at the UCI-sanctioned Tour of the Gila stage race in New Mexico earlier this year.
In the aftermath of Killips’ victory, UCI defended its transgender policy.
“The UCI acknowledges that transgender athletes may wish to compete in accordance with their gender identity,” according to a UCI statement. “The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been applied in a consistent manner. The UCI continues to follow the evolution of scientific findings and may change its rules in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.”
More...from Bicycling Magazine.
7. The first rule of getting in shape: Don’t quit:
When researchers at McMaster University pooled the results of nearly 200 strength training studies with more than 5,000 participants, they reached a surprising conclusion. The details of how much weight, how many sets and how often people worked out had only a minor impact on how much muscle they gained.
“The biggest variable to master is compliance,” Jonathan Mcleod, the study’s co-lead author, said in a press release. “Once you’ve got that down, then you can worry about all of the other subtle nuances.”
That’s an observation that rings true across the exercise spectrum, whether you’re training for a marathon, hitting the weights or simply trying to improve your health. The details of what you do matter less than whether you stick with a routine consistently over the long haul.
But what determines who complies and who drops out of fitness programs remains a hotly debated topic among exercise scientists.
More...from the Globe and Mail.
8. It’s Marathon Training Season. Here’s How to Build a Foundation:
The first few weeks should focus on the basics — easy pace, weight training and setting your expectations.
Every year, more than a million people around the world run a marathon. For some, it will be one of many, but for others, it will be a highlight of their lives. If you’re drawn to the challenge and excitement of running a “26.2” this year (or sometime in the future), you’ve got work to do. And we’re here to help.
Most marathoners train for about 16 weeks to prepare, which means starting now for a fall race. The first four to eight weeks are about building a strong foundation: learning how to eat, creating a healthy mind-set and laying down base miles, which are easier runs that are building blocks for the months ahead. The process can be intimidating, but by following a clear plan, you can arrive at the starting line feeling fresh and ready to go.
More...from the New York Times.
9. People who cram week’s exercise into two days still reap heart benefits – study:
‘Weekend warriors’ have similarly low risk of heart disease and stroke as those who spread out their physical activity .
People who fit an entire week’s recommended exercise into a couple of days have a similarly low risk of heart disease and stroke as those who spread out their physical activity, researchers say.
The results from a major study on “weekend warriors” against more regular exercisers suggest that even when people are too busy to exercise in the working week, making up for the inactivity at the weekend can still improve cardiovascular health.
“Our findings suggest that efforts to improve physical activity, even if concentrated within one to two days of the week, should be beneficial for cardiovascular risk,” said Dr Patrick Ellinor, a cardiologist at Massachusetts general hospital in Boston. “It appears that it is the total volume of activity, rather than the pattern, that matters most.”
More...from The Guardian.
10. The Mastermind Behind Your Favorite Shoes Is About to Disrupt the Shoe Industry. Again:
Jean-Luc Diard, cofounder of Hoka, has been innovating in the outdoor world for decades, and he’s not done yet
The Willy Wonka of the running world is walking down the sidewalk of a sprawling office park, taking a new shoe for a ride. “First there are little movements that help us notice the feeling,” he says in a thick French accent. Jean-Luc Diard, 65, is the mastermind and cofounder of the wildly successful running brand Hoka and—as he does almost every day—he’s testing another one of his inventions outside the Deckers X Lab in sunny Goleta, California, just north of Santa Barbara.
I’m trying to keep up as he begins to jog, then accelerates up a hill, his tanned silhouette and longish gray-brown hair bouncing rhythmically. He cuts left and runs down a steep stretch of pavement behind the lab and its warehouse while zigzagging sharply to assess the shoe’s cornering ability. He reminds me of a child playing with a new toy.
It’s the spring of 2022, and Diard and I are on the fifth and final pair of the day, all run on the same test loop through the parking lot, just outside X Lab’s 3D printing facility (which features signs like: “Warning: Potential Combustible Dust Hazard” and “Danger: Keep Fingers Away from Blade”). Any promising attributes will be filed away for future testing and, if they pan out, work their way into offerings from Deckers’ subsidiary brands, which include Hoka, Sanuk, Teva, and Ugg.
More...from Outside Online.
11. Moderate exercise can influence the inflammatory responses of macrophages, research shows:
Researchers have long known that moderate exercise has a beneficial impact on the body's response to inflammation, but what's been less understood is why. New research coming out of York University done on a mouse model suggests that the answers may lie at the production level of macrophages -; white blood cells responsible for killing off infections, healing injury and otherwise acting as first responders in the body.
While many studies look at temporary boosts to the immune system immediately after exercise, this study, published in the journal AJP-Cell, found these changes occurred even a week later, suggesting that the changes were long term.
We often hear about inflammation in the body in the context of its negative effects, but inflammation is the body's response to infection and other stressors, and some level of inflammation is necessary and desirable.
"Inflammation is amazing, it's a very important part of our normal immune response," says Abdul-Sater. "What we're concerned about is excessive inflammation. Heart disease, diabetes, many cancers and autoimmune diseases, all essentially begin because there was an inappropriate inflammatory response."
More...from News-Medical.
12. Whoop reveals pro riders’ sleep data from last year’s Tour de France - and they’re not getting a full 8 hours:
The wearable band producer has undertaken a sleep study based on cyclists competing in the Tour de France & Tour de Femmes.
Fitness and health tracking brand Whoop has revealed the findings of its sleep study based on male and female professional cyclists competing in the 2022 editions of the Tour de France and Tour de Femmes. The study investigates how the cyclists’ sleep and recovery changed over the course of several consecutive days of maximum intensity exercise.
What’s interesting is that this study is claimed to be the first of its kind to continuously follow elite professionals in a Grand Tour setting.
Eight male professional cyclists and nine females participated in the study, wearing the fourth iteration of Whoop’s wearable band that monitors key health metrics, including heart rate, Resting Heart Rate (RHR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and Respiratory Rate (RR).
Whoop’s 4.0 band captured recovery metrics throughout the 2022 Grand Tours that are primarily related to night-time sleep data, with the aim of the study being to understand the effect of different stage types, such as flat, hilly or mountainous courses, on various recovery metrics.
More...from Cycling Weekly.
13. One Runner Followed His Watch’s AI Training Plans for a Month. Here’s What Happened:
This avid runner wore his GPS watch 24 hours a day for one month, performing every single workout it suggested.
A few months ago, I noticed an odd thing about my Garmin Enduro 2 watch. At the start of my Saturday run, instead of immediately searching for satellites, it displayed a new screen, an AI-generated suggested workout customized just for me. I was planning to do a long run, but my watch said I should do intervals instead.
Initially, I scoffed. How could this wrist device know what my body needs, better than me? The longer I sat with it, the more curious I got.
In the last few years, running watches have made substantial leaps forward. They are now able to collect and analyze a wealth of information, stuff like heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, respiration rates, sleep cycles, stress, acclimatization, stride mechanics, and other metrics. Even midpack models offer a robust feature set that would’ve been hard to imagine a decade ago. Most major watch brands like Suunto, Coros, and Polar now offer a suite of recovery recommendations, load tracking, and basic workout suggestions.
More...from Outside Online.
14. Skincare for Athletes – Protecting Performance and Health:
Learn from dermatologist Dr. Lela Lankerani and experts in the field as we explore the importance of skincare for endurance athletes. Discover tips to safeguard against sun damage and tackle skin issues like saddle sores, blisters, and road rash. Join us as we prioritize your body's largest organ and unlock your potential for speed and endurance.
Skincare might seem mundane or easy to overlook, but it plays a crucial role in our training routines. In fact, a recent study found that over 80% of cyclists understood the importance of sunscreen, but only 39% used it even some of the time. It’s time we change that statistic and prioritize our skin health.
Training plans can be unfulfilled by a saddle sore that keeps you from riding, or a blister that can make simply walking a painful experience. An even scarier conseuqence is that unprotected skin in the sun can lead to cancer if we don’t take proper precautions. This is why every pro cyclist, runner, and triathlete should have a detailed plan for how to keep their skin healthy.
In today’s episode, we talk with dermatologist Dr. Lela Lankerani. She helps us understand how to protect yourself from the sun while still receiving the benefits we need from sun exposure. We also dive into some specific skin issues like how to avoid and treat saddle sores, blisters, and road rash.
More...from Fast Talk Laboratories.
15. Return to running after a break:
This is an excerpt from Breakthrough Women's Running by Neely S. Spence Gracey & Cindy Kuzma.
If you’ve been away for more than a week or two for any reason, especially injury or pregnancy, you will need to rebuild your mileage gradually. You can continue cross-training, ramping that down as you ramp up your running. For instance, after I had knee surgery in 2014, I started with an hour of low-resistance biking and moved on to the same amount of aqua jogging and then the elliptical. Once I started running on dry land—with two five-minute jogs—I would still get on the elliptical or bike for another 45 to 50 minutes. As my running time increased, my cross-training time decreased until I was running continuously. Cross-training also offers a small mental respite from running. Even when you’re healthy, incorporating other activities you enjoy takes you out of the grind for a bit so your mood stays lifted and you truly enjoy the training process.
As we discussed in chapter 2, every run in your training plan has a purpose and so, too, should every cross-training workout. In the past, I’ve seen athletes fall into the “more is better” trap, trying to squeeze a quick bike ride or core session into every spare half hour. That often leads down the path to burnout and injury because your body will never have time to truly rest and recover. What’s more, it can also be tied to disordered eating habits and a hyper-focus on weight that can interfere with your performance goals.
More...from Human Kinetics.
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