Swimming on the web
How do antioxidants affect my workout?
In a recent updated "Jockology" article on the Globe & Mail web site, Alex Hutchinson reviews the effect of antioxidants on exercise and health.
Recent studies suggest that antioxidants may reduce post-workout muscle soreness but may also slow down muscle repair and recovery. Furthermore, supplementation may suppress the body's own antioxidant mechanisms.
One study showed that Vitamin C supplementation reduces the insulin regulation benefits of exercise. It's possible that fruits and vegetables are healthy despite their antioxidants not because of it, so substituting supplements for fresh fruits and vegetables may be doubly counterproductive.
While previous studies have shown that antioxidants can boost immune function after extreme exertion, such as an ultra-marathon, a study last year of people cycling for two hours at moderate pace showed at most a weak effect.
Read the article for more details!
Posted at 10:48AM Mar 17, 2010 by Lindsay in General | Comments[0]
Circadian rhythms and peak athletic performance
This article discusses a study that looked at the effect of time of day on athletic performance, specifically time to swim 200m. The performance gap between worst time of day (2am-8am) and best time of day (11pm) was a whopping 5.84s! Although not studied the article hypothesizes that it may be possible to shift the circadian rhythm to match competition schedule.
http://www.the-aps.org/press/journal/07/8.htm
Posted at 12:19PM Mar 12, 2010 by Lindsay in General | Comments[0]
Why You Should Step Up Your Workout
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article looking at the possible benefit of exercising at levels beyond the minimum levels often recommended by government health guidelines, guidelines often set to encourage people who don't exercise at all to do something rather than to encourage people who are already active to get maximum benefit.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704350304574638550059084962.html
Posted at 11:17AM Mar 04, 2010 by Lindsay in General | Comments[0]