Fitness

Speed of reaction is a much more important aspect of speed development, and can be improved dramatically at whatever age and level of competence. Speed of thought and speed of adjustment, are two areas which, when worked on consistently, produce fantastic improvements. All of the great players have a saying and an understanding that “the first 2 meters of movement are in your head”. How a player reacts or adjusts to an opponent's moves wins and loses games.

There are within this framework, two different types of players.

1. Reactive - A player who only is aware and ready when directly involved with the play.
2. Proactive - A player who is aware from the moment he steps onto the pitch until the moment he steps off at the end of the game, whether or not he is directly or indirectly involved with the play.

Don't you just hate it when life’s daily routine gets in the way of you finding time to exercise?

For some of us, work and family take priority over our health. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but if you aren't fit and healthy, do you not think your family and work life will suffer in return? It is possible to find time to exercise and still not neglect the other importance aspects of your life. Plus, you don't need anything more than 15 minutes maximum in your day.

It’s been shown in studies that short high intense bursts of exercise for a few minutes per day actually has the same health benefits of at least one hour of “moderate paced” exercise. The trick is get the heart-rate up for a short period of time, and then bring it back down to lesser rate for short period of time, and repeat this for several minutes.

Here are few things you could try after a brief warm-up:

I have always said fitness is not as complicated as people think. Unfortunately, many products and companies would like you to believe that getting fit is almost impossible without their help. This, however, is just an unfortunate ploy to get another customer.

With obesity on the rise, the weight loss and fitness industry is also on the rise. There are more diet books, weight loss gimmicks, and fitness related products than ever. If people weren’t already confused before exploring the world of fitness, it won’t take long before the confusion and frustration begins.

People who are in the market to get fit are faced with too many decisions. Between deciding which gym to join, gimmick to try, or diet to attempt, the mind-boggling decisions often are a result of guesses based on false claims instead solid facts.

What does it take to be an Olympic champion? In fact, what does it take to be the most winning Olympic athlete in history? For Michael Phelps, it takes long, grueling workouts and an obscene amount of calories.

The big-footed kid from Baltimore captivated America and the world as he quickly swam to the top of the marquee in Beijing 2008. His record amount of eight gold medals in a single Games gave him the title of most Olympic gold medals – fourteen in all – as well as most medals won during one Olympics.

Okay, picture this…you’ve been giving it some thought as of late, it’s time for change. You’ve eaten a big bowl of inspiration and washed it down a large glass of determination, you’ve thought meticulously about how you’re gonna train and what you’re gonna eat for the next 12-16 weeks..

You’re ready!

But did you know that as much as we’re all aware that sleep is important to us, we take it as a given because it’s what comes naturally, but unfortunately it doesn’t come naturally to all of us.

There are 5 phases of a typical sleep cycle, but I want to focus a little on the one that potentially effects all of us as athletes and our gains. Phase #5 and the deep part of sleep.

Exercising during pregnancy has obvious benefits for the mom, such as keeping weight gain under control, maintaining fitness level, and relieving stress, but until recently, little has been known about the positive effects on the unborn baby.

Research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society implied that exercise has cardiovascular benefits not only for the mom, but for the developing fetus as well. Dr. Linda E. May and colleagues from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences hypothesized that fetuses whose mothers exercised would have better autonomic nervous system function than fetuses not exposed to exercise.

The answer to this question seems pretty simple, but it’s actually a bit more complicated than you might imagine. There are definitely going to be folks who say, “Yes, without a doubt, supplements are needed.” There will also be those “naturalists” who won’t advocate any supplement at any level for anything. I have to admit…I fall somewhere in the middle. There are several supplements that have been studied extensively and seem to pass the test when it comes to safety and efficacy, but does that necessarily mean you need to take them? Good question, huh? The point of writing this little article arose because some members have brought up the issue of supplements and their cost, and whether they really need them to reach their goals. Let’s take a closer look at this hot button issue.

Let’s face it… When it comes to weightlifting, there’s a whole lotta cheating goin’ on.

At its roots, cheating comes from never really learning good form in the first place. Many people simply “learn” by watching others. Often, this is not good enough. The subtleties and nuances of technique are difficult for the inexperienced to see, if they can be seen at all! Exercise is a science, and the movements of exercise need to be learned.

Also, the tendency to cheat increases as the weight / load increases. This is not to say that using light weights guarantees good form. It doesn’t. But the two things that result in cheating / loss of form are actual load and perceived load.

Actual load is the weight on the bar. It’s just that simple.

Perceived load is relative to how fatigued you are. Fatigue can be local or systemic. Local fatigue involves the muscle or muscles you are working. Systemic fatigue means your cardiovascular system is taxed. Both can spell trouble when it comes to keeping good form.

I don’t mean to imply that cheating the weight up (or down) is necessarily a bad thing. Used as a tool by an experienced lifter, it can be a powerful intensity technique. But, believe it or not, there is a proper form to this kind of cheating!

As many of you probably know, Apple released the highly anticipated iPhone 3G on July 11th. Being a gadget fanatic myself, I was one of those excited customers dying to get my hands on one. Though I wait for my new 3G to come in, I still get to enjoy all the wonderful perks that came with the new iPhone 2.0 software update released upon the 3G’s arrival. With this update came many new features and applications.

The new iPhone software not only offers better email management, maps and customization, the new applications are taking the whole mobile phone experience to an entirely new level.

You see, iPhone offers a new “applications section” where you can pick and choose easy to use programs. From the long list of “apps”, as they call it, you can choose from a large variety of programs that help you get the latest sports scores, find the nearest gas station, or even calculate a tip when dining out.

Is it just me, or does it seem like every Olympic race results in a new world record? This trend has been increasingly prevalent at the recent Games, and it makes sense – every four years, Olympians train to be faster, bigger, and better than in previous years.

But there are also a couple of tricks modern athletes have up their sleeves: better technology, better science, and better sports medicine. There are three primary factors that allow elite athletes to perform seemingly superhuman feats. They are:

• Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max)
• Lactate threshold
• Running economy/efficiency

I want you to do a little experiment. Get an ice pack, and get a watch with a timer. Put the ice pack on your thigh, and start the timer. After 1 minute has elapsed, remove the ice pack.

Now take a look at your skin. What color is your skin where the ice pack was laying? For most, the skin will look white / blanched.

Now put the ice pack on your other thigh and leave it there for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes have elapsed, remove the ice pack.

What color is your skin now? Most people will find that their skin will be red. And if your skin turns red after only 5 minutes, you’ll probably find that it turns really red after 20 minutes.

When your skin begins to cool, the initial reaction is constriction (shrinking of the diameter) of blood vessels. This happens after a short period of time (1-2 minutes for most people). The result of constriction of the blood vessels is that “whiteness” or blanching.

To see real results, you need to be in the right mindset. But how do you know if you’re there yet? And if you aren’t there, how can you get there?

Industry experts have used a simple, one-stop tool for years to help clients lead healthier lives. The Weight Loss Readiness Test gauges how mentally prepared you are to start a program that will change your life. With indexes on motivation, expectations, confidence, hunger and eating cues, binge eating and purging, and emotional eating, the assessment aims to pinpoint your challenge areas and determine if you are ready to start a new diet and exercise program.

Critics may oppose the idea that a person should continue on with unhealthy lifestyle habits until he or she is ‘ready’ to diet, asserting that any diet is better than no diet at all. However, what we know about weight loss is that gradual changes are far more beneficial than a binary mentality – either you’re dieting or you’re not. Instead of yo-yoing between committing to and cheating on a strict diet, it’s better to implement small, permanent changes – for example, giving up all soda or cutting back on refined sugars.

In every sport there is a crucial ingredient that very few people neither see nor recognize. Yet it is that one “magic” ingredient that really differentiates the truly great athletes from the good or very good.

It is the ability to “dance”; in every sport there is what is termed, “ the dance within the game”. If a player cannot dance without the ball, how is he supposed to be able to “dance” around his opponent or opponents?

All great players and teams in whatever sport, have the ability to dictate the rhythm of the game. By controlling the rhythm of first the individual, then the team, you control the flow of the game, imposing your rhythm on the opposition (individually and collectively). Rhythm is of fundamental importance for success.

If your training is always of the same rhythm, then each player, and the team, becomes very linear and therefore predictable, and this predictability is the "curse" of unsuccessful players and teams.

Introducing a variety of rhythmic drills, movements, and more importantly, adding a varied rhythmic theme, to everyday training causes each player to become much more difficult to play against. This is because his opponent (through traditional training forms) will be very uncomfortable working at these "strange, disjointed, non linear" rhythms.

I often cringe when I read fitness articles. Although many articles have a little truth in them, since many writers are not in the fitness industry, some articles can mislead readers rather than help them.

Magazines like to use catchy phrases and flashy titles to grab a consumer’s attention. Although most of us would realize that titles like “10-minute abs” or “lose your belly in 3 weeks” are unrealistic, there are still many people who believe the nonsense. No wonder people lose hope so fast – almost every article in every magazine promises fast results with little effort.