Dame Helen Mirren has revealed the secret to her youthful appearance, a 1950s 12 minute Royal Canadian Airforce workout for pilots. Cue flurry of interest from ladies over the age of 50 and a headline in The Telegraph. The programme fits with the current trend of exercising harder for less time, in order to achieve […]
Training
Try this simple exercise for a stiff neck.
A stiff neck is sometimes caused by tightness in the levator scapulae muscle. As the name suggests its role is to elevate the scapula. When other muscles that perform a similar task such as rhomboid minor, are unable to contract effectively, it is the levator that sometimes takes up the slack. You can see how […]
Does foam rolling cause muscle damage?
A recent study into the effects of foam rolling has concluded that while rolling seemed to reduce their subject’s perception of muscle soreness, it may actually cause damage to the muscle. The Canadian researchers found that muscles which had been rolled produced less force when directly stimulated than muscles that had not. This indicates that […]
ACSM warn against motion control running shoes.
The American College of Sports Medicine has published guidelines on choosing running shoes and recommends runners avoid buying motion control shoes. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that such a large organisation has entered the debate on motion control shoes and taken such a strong stand. We have previously discussed our findings that […]
Strength training as effective as stretching for improving flexibility.
This is the conclusion of a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Twenty five untrained adults were randomised into either a resistance training group, a static stretching group, or a control group. Exercises were then performed to either stretch or strengthen muscles involved in knee extension / flexion, hip extension / […]