Race Weight

I have been running more lately. Partly due to the weather, we have had a summer that has not been the best for cycling and partly because I have a half marathon to train for. I have also been thinking about weight. Mine, currently not ideal. You really notice anything extra when you run.  I live in a town that …

Skinny Fat

Skinny fat. It’s not any healthier than being obese. What is it? Thin, but with a body composition that has a higher proportion of fat to muscle. Being thin isn’t really that great if you aren’t healthy. You know that you can’t outrun a bad diet and this is true whether you are thin or not. Being overweight isn’t good …

Five steps to improve resiliency

Five ways to boost your resilience for life-changing results. Resilient people handle stressful situations better, and they are also more successful athletes. They are more successful at behaviour change, like weight loss, and can bounce back from adversity faster. Successful professional athletes are known for their resilience. Think about it. How would you perform on the centre court at Wimbledon? …

Sufferfest

Did you watch the Tour de France? The 3 week long suffer fest is a testament to how much an athlete is willing to suffer for the privilege of finishing Le Tour.  Shane Archibald, a rider from team Bora-Argon 18 suffered a high speed crash while descending on stage 17. It was so hard it snapped his bike frame in …

Eat more veggies

Eat more veggies. Only 1 in 10 Americans eats enough fruits and vegetables a day. Even with the popularity of smoothies, only 18% of Californians eat enough fruits and vegetables. 60% of Canadian’s do not eat enough fruits and vegetables.   In Britain, only 17% of the population eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. 6% of Australians eat …

Carbs vs fat

Every 10 years or so, like the cycle of the high protein diet, someone decides that fat would be a better fuel source for working muscles. It sounds like a good idea, we have more stored fat than carbohydrates so maybe exercise performance would be improved by burning fat. Except we don’t work like that. The thinking behind these studies …

Exercise therapy

I read a couple of interesting studies about muscle this week and both could have a positive effect on you. The first one was on muscle as a therapeutic treatment option. It seems that muscle repairs itself faster with exercise. Even older muscle. Now going to the gym means that you can build more muscle and that you will heal …

Eat more pasta.

Every decade there is a new low carb diet. Atkins, Zone, Dukan, South Beach and now the Low Carb High Fat Diet (LCHF) Diet. They are all basically the same, cut the carbs and by magic you will lose fat. If you eat less. The only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories. A new study from Italy …

Timing is everything

With exercise, as with most things, timing is everything. For instance, if you are using exercise to improve your memory, and there is plenty of research to support this, when you exercise matters. Learning something new and remembering it later, can be enhanced with good timing. Exercising immediately after, or not at all, gives you the same result. Not much …