Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [108]
• Getting enough sleep boosts performance; even just a few weeks of concentrated sleep catch-up has measurable effects on speed and reaction time.
• Contrary to the usual advice, a slightly faster start may help you finish with a quicker time than a perfectly even pace in long races.
• To train for the mix of speed and endurance required in field sports like soccer, practice repeated shuttle sprints (20 meters) with sharp turns and short recoveries (20 seconds).
Conclusions: From Lab to Gym
AFTER A WHIRLWIND TOUR, YOU’RE UP TO DATE on the latest thinking from scientists around the world about the merits of personal trainers, probiotics, Pilates, plasma-rich platelets, and a host of other topics. “Now you know,” as the public service announcements at the end of G.I. Joe cartoons used to say, “and knowing is half the battle.” The other half is the real challenge: putting this knowledge into practice. To that end, I hope you’ll take the following three basic messages from this book:
1. Do something rather than nothing. You might be daunted by the sheer number of exercise choices described. But there’s no wrong answer—pick something you enjoy. You might also be daunted by how challenging some of the exercise programs sound, and think that you’ll never be a marathoner or a weightlifter or a mountain hiker. But if there’s one overriding theme in the research presented here, it’s that any exercise, in almost any amount, brings significant and immediate health benefits. Start doing it, and worry about getting it right later.
2. Figure out your goals and monitor your progress. One of the reasons this book couldn’t be condensed into a five-page pamphlet is that everyone has different goals. The workout routine that’s perfect for your sister might make no sense for you. Think carefully about what you hope to achieve in six months, a year, five years—bearing in mind the aphorism that most people overestimate what they can achieve in the short term and underestimate what they can achieve over the long term. Choose a program that will move you toward those goals, and monitor your progress, whether it’s how far you can walk, how much weight you can lift, how well you can serve a tennis ball, or even how you feel. If you don’t start to see progress after 6 to 12 months, consider whether your program is appropriate to your goals.
3. Try something new. Whenever researchers line up two or more exercise techniques against each other, the conclusion is almost never “A is better than B,” or “A and B are the same.” Instead, it’s “A has these strengths and weaknesses, while B has these other strengths and weaknesses.” Moreover, all programs suffer from diminishing returns after a few years—if you always bike at the same pace and do the same five strength exercises, your improvements will be measured in fractions of a percent. Trying something new every now and then will force your body to adapt in new ways, and keep you mentally fresh.
Of course, scientists are still learning more about the workings of the body, churning out hundreds of papers a month in journals like Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and many others. Most of these papers are building on existing knowledge, filling in gaps, and adding details.
But sometimes there are radical new findings. Who would have guessed, a decade ago, that experts would be dismissing the injury-prevention benefits of static stretching and celebrating lactate as a crucial fuel for exercise? Unfortunately, health (and science in general) is often reported in the media as a series of unconnected breakthroughs, with big headlines and no context. When it seems that every study you read about is contradicted by another one a few months later, it’s hard to figure out what to believe. Look for high-quality reporting that explains how the study was done, who paid for it, and how it relates to