Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [22]
• There’s increasing evidence that compression socks and sleeves can help speed muscle recovery after intense workouts. Claims that they boost power and endurance remain unconvincing.
• Walking poles help you burn 20 percent more energy by involving your arms and propelling you up hills—as long as you use proper form and vigorous push-offs.
• “Active video games” burn more energy than traditional games but are generally equivalent only to a leisurely walk.
• Balance training is vital for avoiding the recurrence of ankle and knee problems and may help prevent them in the first place. But you should still do some training on solid ground to maximize strength gains.
• Initial studies suggest that specially fitted mouthpieces may boost performance by a few percent by keeping your jaw relaxed, but the evidence remains patchy.
• “Inspiratory muscle training” to strengthen your breathing muscles appears to boost endurance by a few percentage points, but it’s unclear whether the benefits are lasting.
Chapter 3
The Physiology of Exercise
SIR ROGER BANNISTER, THE EMINENT neurologist whose sub–four-minute mile back in 1954 remains one of the most celebrated examples of human boundary-breaking, put it best: “The human body is centuries ahead of the physiologist.” Today’s scientists have an exciting array of new tools and techniques that allow them to peer inside the body with more precision than ever before, monitoring how slight changes in training or nutrition affect health and performance on a cellular level. But more often than not, their findings merely confirm the wisdom that coaches and athletes have arrived at through trial and error, rather than producing radical new approaches to getting fit.
Still, it can be helpful to understand how your body responds to exercise and what the various physical sensations it produces mean. One of the most exciting fields of research these days is on the origins of fatigue: old villains like lactic acid are getting left behind, while the role of the mind in regulating the limits of endurance is increasingly studied. Meanwhile, understanding the causes of common nuisances like post-exercise soreness, muscle cramps, and stitches can give you the knowledge you need to avoid them in the future.
What role does my brain play in fatigue?
Imagine crossing the finish line of a 10K running race—or a bike ride or any other activity that pushes you to your limits. You’re out of breath, and your heart is thumping. Your legs are burning, you’re overheating and dripping sweat, and you feel as though your fuel gauge is on empty. All these factors contribute to your sense of fatigue, but which was the one that actually prevented you from going faster or farther? Scientists have been pursuing the answer to this question for the last century. But according to a radical theory that has been gaining momentum in the last few years, there is no answer—because it’s the wrong question.
Researchers test the limits of endurance by putting athletes on a treadmill and gradually increasing the speed until they’re forced to stop (or fall off the back of the treadmill). But compare this to what happens in real-life athletic contests. While running a race, you never reach a point where you simply keel over (unless something goes badly wrong). Instead, you’re constantly adjusting your effort with the goal of running as fast as you can while ensuring that you complete the distance. So whatever “failure” causes you to fall off the treadmill at the end of a maximal test can’t be the same thing that prevents you from running faster over 10K.
What’s been missing here is the role of the brain. Instead of our limits being dictated by “peripheral” fatigue—a failure somewhere in the muscles of your legs, the beating of your heart, or the pumping of your lungs—South African researcher Tim Noakes has proposed that a “central governor” in the brain regulates