Category Archives: Health & Fitness

The winter Olympics start later this week so we will soon be seeing some remarkable athletic performances. The competitors are among the fittest and most highly trained athletes in the world, both in terms of laboratory measures of fitness and in subjective evaluations of skill. Competing in the Olympics requires years of focused, intense training, and some good luck. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

First, let’s look at the fitness. This is most evident in the endurance events like cross-country skiing and speed skating. The key to performance in long-duration events like these is for the muscle to contract repeatedly and forcefully without fatigue. In order to do so, the muscle must have a steady supply of oxygen and nutrients. These nutrients are delivered through the blood, which is pumped by the heart. The muscle takes up and uses these nutrients to produce ATP, the form of energy used by the muscle.

After months and years of endurance training the heart gets bigger resulting in the ejection of more blood to the muscle. Within the muscle there is an increase in the number of capillaries, the small blood vessels that deliver blood to the muscle, and mitochondria, the part of the cell that produces most of the ATP. Together, these adaptations allow the muscle to produce more ATP without fatigue, allowing the athlete to sustain a higher intensity (skiing speed, for example) for a longer time without fatigue.

While all Olympic athletes are very physically fit, some events rely more heavily on skill, including figure skating and freestyle snow boarding. For example, in figure skating completing a triple axel involves leaping into the air, spinning three and a half times, and landing backwards. On a 4 mm wide blade. On ice. Or think about the triple cork 1440, a snowboarding trick that involves flipping three times in the air while doing four 360-degree turns.

The athletes who are able to successfully complete these maneuvers have practiced for years to develop the skill and confidence needed to perform them consistently in competition. These are some of the most obvious displays of athletic skill, but all events require good technique. The development of skill in addition to fitness is the main reason why athletes specialize in one area and you don’t see people competing in both downhill skiing and speed skating, for example.

Of course, there is a psychological aspect to Olympic performances. The motivation to put in the training time alone is remarkable. Even more impressive is the ability to focus on an event despite the distractions of the crowds, media, and pressure of competition. This combination of physical and mental preparation is rare—as rare as Olympic gold medalists!

But is training alone sufficient for Olympic-level performance? Could anyone who trains enough make it to the Olympics? The answer is no, because there is another important factor in athletic performance—luck. Luck refers to genetics, which determine potential for attributes like heart size and muscle characteristics. As much as 50% of performance in some events is attributed to genetics. One sports physiologist famously answered the question, “How do I become an Olympic champion?” with “pick different parents!”

Even though most of us will never become Olympic champions we can still experience many of the same benefits of training. All athletes train to develop strength, endurance, and flexibility, which is exactly what we should do, too. And those attributes will help us perform better at work (and play) and help us live a longer healthier life. It will also help us appreciate the training, dedication, and good luck that the athletes bring to the Olympic games.

Since the Super Bowl is this week, football is a major topic of conversation. But football has been in the news for another more serious reason—the association with traumatic brain injury. Over the years, it has been reported that several former NFL players suffered from brain injury as a result of concussions sustained over years of playing. Some players have even retired early in their careers in an attempt to avoid such injury. Far from being an NFL problem, the issue of sports-related concussion is something that should concern young athletes who play football and other sports, as well as coaches and parents. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

Football, especially at the professional and college level, has long been known for violent collisions. An obvious concern is that players could sustain a career-ending injury and head injuries, including concussions, are particularly worrisome. In particular, repeated concussions can cause a degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The 2015 motion picture Concussion brought this issue to the attention of a wider audience, but many sports medicine professionals have been aware of this problem for years. A recent report suggests that CTE may be far more common than previously thought.

A concussion is caused by the brain moving forcibly inside the skull as the result of the head striking an object (another player or the ground) or simply the head moving violently without hitting anything. Because of this, concussions and sub-concussive injuries can occur even when an athlete doesn’t lose consciousness or appear to be injured. This can put athletes at increased risk for multiple injuries in a season—or even in a single game. This last part is critical, because much of the permanent damage comes from a second concussion sustained before the first has healed completely.

New rules banning helmet-to-helmet contact are part of an effort to reduce the risk of concussions. Off the field, players are subjected to special screening to detect concussions, assess recovery, and determine if it is safe to return to play. Improvements in equipment, including helmet technology that can monitor potentially concussive hits, may also help reduce the risks of serious injury.

Despite these efforts, some experts believe that football is simply too dangerous and have called for tackling to be banned. These concerns are more frequently expressed when it comes to youth football. The evidence that accumulated brain trauma sustained by young athletes can have immediate and lasting effects has led some communities, schools, and even whole states to consider banning tackling in youth football.

This is complicated by the fact that other sports also have a high risk of concussion, including hockey and soccer. In fact, heading has been banned in some competitive youth soccer leagues. And there is the fact that all sports have some risk of injury, including concussions. Furthermore, youth sports, including football, provide a great many young people with opportunities to be active, promote growth and development, enhance academic achievement, and have fun. The effect of banning tackling in football or heading in soccer on the health, social, and educational opportunities for young athletes is unknown and should be considered.

Whether policies like these are practical or not remains to be seen. In the meantime, there are steps we can take to make all sports safer for young athletes. We should make sure that coaches are educating players how to compete as safely as possible instead of emphasizing winning at all costs. We should also advocate for having certified athletic trainers at all games and practices to teach players safe techniques, assess and treat injuries, and ensure appropriate return to play. Most of all, we should be mindful of the risks of playing sports while encouraging kids of all ages to be active, play, and have fun!

If you exercise, especially if you lift weights, you have probably heard the adage, “No pain, no gain.” This may serve as motivation for some people, but the belief that exercise results in pain might be a good reason not to work out for others. If you are one of those people, you should know that idea that exercise should hurt is simply wrong—muscle pain during or following exercise usually suggests an injury. However, some muscle soreness is unavoidable, especially if you are new to exercise. This is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.

This soreness is called DOMS—delayed onset muscle soreness—and it typically occurs 24 to 48 hours after exercise. It can range from a mild reminder that you worked out to more severe soreness, weakness, and tenderness. DOMS can occur after any type of exercise, but is more common following weight training, especially if it is your first session or a particularly intense workout.

A common belief is that lactic acid build-up in the muscle causes muscle soreness. This is based on the fact that during intense exercise like weight training the muscles make energy for contraction anaerobically (without oxygen), which leads to lactic acid production. This is in contrast to aerobic exercises like walking or jogging that produce energy using oxygen, with little lactic acid build-up. This belief that lactic acid causes DOMS has been shown to be false since any lactic acid that is produced during exercise is cleared shortly after you finish, long before muscle soreness begins.

So what causes DOMS? It turns out that strenuous exercise leads to microscopic tears in the muscle, which leads to inflammation and soreness. This sounds bad, but the muscle damage is an important step in the muscle getting bigger and stronger. Your muscles are made up of protein filaments that shorten, leading to a contraction. When you lift weights your muscles respond by creating more protein filaments, allowing you to generate more force and causing the muscle to grow in size, called hypertrophy. The mechanism that leads to creating more muscle protein is stimulated by the damage that occurs during exercise. Without that stimulus, muscle growth wouldn’t occur. This is why weight training programs call for increasing the resistance over time to overload the muscle. Without increasing the weight, you wouldn’t get much stronger.

While the muscle adaptations that are associated with DOMS are beneficial, you may wish to avoid or limit the soreness aspect. You can do this by beginning your exercise program slowly. Resist the temptation to do too much too soon! Build up your time and intensity slowly over several weeks and start weight training with lighter weights. Remember, your goal is to begin an exercise program that you will sustain. Many people have quit working out because they started off with exercise that was too intense. While your goal should be to exercise every day, there is nothing wrong with taking a day off between workouts early on.

If you do experience DOMS you should rest those muscles until the soreness subsides. You can also try an over-the-counter pain reliever or applying ice to the sore muscles. If the soreness isn’t too severe, you can still exercise, but keep the intensity low. Weight training sessions should be scheduled a few days apart to allow for muscle recovery, but aerobic exercise can usually be done every day. If your arms are sore from lifting weights, you can always go for a walk!

There seems to always be something new in the fitness world. Whether it is a new piece of equipment in the gym, a new group exercise class, or a new way to perform traditional exercises, the fitness industry is constantly evolving. Some of these become popular enough that they are considered “trends,” attracting attention from fitness experts and exercise novices alike.

Each year the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) surveys health and fitness professionals to identify exercise trends for the upcoming year. The 2018 report was published recently, so it is a good time to catch up on the leading fitness trends to look for in the upcoming year. While past lists identified truly new types of exercise or technology trends, this year’s list noteworthy for what isn’t new—some trends seems to be sticking around.

The biggest fitness trend for 2017 is high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which uses repeated cycles of short, maximal or near-maximal exercise alternated with short rest periods. These HIIT sessions typically last less than 30 minutes but lead to fitness improvements that exceed those of traditional longer-duration training. Beginning exercisers should note that HIIT training is intense, so starting slow is recommended.

Number two is group training, exercise classes that are led by a trained instructor. Group exercise classes aren’t new, but they are becoming more popular, especially for people who want to try new types of exercise. The group dynamic provides motivation and encouragement and the instructor can teach proper techniques, so these classes are good for beginners and experienced exercisers.

Next on the list is wearable fitness technology, the number one trend from last year. From activity trackers like the Fitbit to heart rate monitors, the newest “wearables” are sophisticated tools for recording your steps per day, distance you run, and calories you burn. Make sure to pick the device that meets your needs… and your budget, as they can get expensive!

Body weight training is next. Popular for building strength and endurance with minimal equipment, body weight training goes far beyond the push-ups and pull-ups you may remember doing in PE class. Now the focus is on dynamic movements to build strength and endurance. This type of training can be done almost anywhere, which is good news for people who are on a budget or want to train at home.

Strength training still ranks highly, at number five, and for good reason. In addition to building or toning muscles, strength training can make everyday activities easier, help maintain bone mass, and promote weight loss. Strength training is often incorporated into other types of exercise, so you don’t necessarily need to “pump iron” to build strength.

Sixth on the list is educated and experienced fitness professionals. You should look for a facility that requires the staff to have fitness certifications that involve both education and experience. Finding a personal trainer or group exercise instructor who has experience working with people like you is important, so ask for recommendations and references to get the best match.

Rounding out the top ten are yoga, personal training, fitness programs for older adults, and functional fitness, all of which have been on the list for some time. While this list does not include every popular or “trendy” type of exercise, it does capture the components of most types of training. CrossFit, for example, is a combination of body weight, strength, and functional training involving high-intensity intervals in a group setting.

Whether you decide to follow a fitness trend or not, make sure you dedicate time every day to be active. Health and fitness will always be trendy!