Tyler Grubic, M.S.Intense weight lifting and/or sprints, including acute single bouts, can promote exercise-induced stress responses, characterized by muscle damage and inflammation similar to stress associated with cardiovascular events and illnesses [10-12]. Decreased performance due to muscle soreness is not the direct result of inflammation, but rather a product of pain and mechanical receptor sensitivity to products of muscle breakdown, such as circulating chemicals and intramuscular protei...

Taewon Kim, M.S.Our daily life requires complex procedural skills, which are basically presented sequential movements, such as playing a musical instrument, driving a car, typing a computer keyboard, and texting with a smart phone. Thus, learning sequence movements become very important to people to live more efficiently. For example, driving a manual vehicle, which are sort of decision making movements, requires a complicated pattern of subsequent motor skills while changing down a gear from th...

Erin SimmonsProtein is often thought to be a workout necessity, the essential complement to every gym bag. Missing protein during the post-workout anabolic window is viewed as unfortunate, if not detrimental to one’s training goals. However, the scientific literature on this subject isn’t quite so black and white. Reviews of protein requirements have touted 1.8 g-1kg-1day-1 as the optimal protein intake for individuals undergoing training, when in fact the literature has propose...

Jacqueline I. Perticone, B.S.Loss of muscle mass with advancing age, disease or lifestyle has a profound influence on healthcare and society. Our laboratory uses hindlimb suspension in rodents to better understand loss of muscle mass occurring with disuse in an effort to design specific interventions that may be suitable to maintain muscle health and function in a number of populations. It is well-known that loss of muscle mass with reduced activity results from a slowdown in the muscle’s ...

Majid Koozehchian, M.S.In recent years, strength training with unconventional objects has become popular (1). One unconventional method that has gained recognition by elite athletes is adding chains to the end of conventional barbells. There are many claims that this type of training can improve strength and power above those achieved by traditional free weights (2). In addition, chain-loaded resistance training is also believed to reduce joint stress resistance training during exercises such as...

Seung Kim, M.S.Do you exercise regularly? If so, what benefits do you expect from exercise? Ever wonder whether you’re exercising in appropriate ways? Except for few people who are addicted to exercise, the main reason most people spend time and money for exercise is to maintain/improve their health. In general, the benefits of exercise include health-related risk factor reduction, anti-aging effects, prevention/improvement of disease, etc.However, there are things to carefully consider re...

Josh Avila, M.S.People like to place the blame on their genes for their lack of Herculean strength or Olympic endurance. But is this really fair? Do our genes actually have an effect on our ability to exercise?Improvements in cardio-respiratory fitness made by increasing levels of physical activity have been shown to reduce the level of all-cause mortality regardless of baseline fitness levels. Research has shown that both initial exercise capacity and the response to exercise training are highl...

Vincent C.W. Chen, B.S.When eating less to reduce weight, it is hard not to lose some muscle mass. During dieting, the body struggles to keep sufficient energy stores, and therefore, it will break down muscle proteins to satisfy energy needs. While the basic equation for muscle mass is rate of protein synthesis subtracted rate of protein breakdown, decrease in muscle size will be observed if muscle protein breakdown is not prevented while on a calorie-deficit diet.It has been well established th...

Michael LaMantia, M.S., CSCSThe Crossfit Regionals event consists of seven workouts through three consecutive days.  The workouts include Olympic weightlifting, gymnastic movements, powerlifting movements, and overall athletic movements found in any athlete’s training regimen.   Crossfit Regional is highly anaerobic and partially aerobic at times.  The intensities for each workout are in the 80-95% range for VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake), especially at the elite level...

William Kobbe, CPTU.S. Army Ranger A title like the one above usually produces immediate interest and often some skepticism, especially in the society of quick fixes but, at least in this case, isn’t misleading.  A course pioneered in the 1950’s in support of leadership development does just that -- shreds body fat.  To qualify for the program, a candidate needs to be a young, healthy male willing to undergo legendary hardships to graduate from the U.S Army Ranger Scho...