McMinnville High in Oregon became famous last week. 24 McMinnville football players were seen by a doctor last week with 13 being admitted to the hospital for at least one night all with symptoms of compartment syndrome. 21 of the 24 had elevated creatine kinase levels and 3 actually had the condition and needed surgery to alleviate the pressure. Read the whole story here and here. This case is very unusual and has made a lot of headlines last week. Mostly it's been used to demonize creatine supplementation (although none of the boys admitted to supplementing with creatine) and creatine hasn't been linked to an increased chance of developing compartment … [Read more...]
Not So Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Albert and the Stupid Football Test
August 3, 2010 by
Once again, for the sixth time, Albert Haynesworth has either failed to complete or opted not to take the Washington Redskins fitness test. The test is simple...... it's 6 back and forth 50 yard sprints (for a total of 300 yards) completed in 70 seconds followed by a three and a half-minute rest and then another set of six 50 yard sprints completed in 73 seconds. Apparently this test, must be completed before a player can practice at training camp although it was administered to no NO OTHER PLAYERS (that should be a big red flag that it might not have anything to do with being physically ready to play football). "Haynesworth is the only player required … [Read more...]
Jennifer’s Body..(get it? it’s a pun…)
July 29, 2010 by
5 Yoga Poses to Get Jennifer Aniston's Body .... 5 YOGA poses... FIVE YOGA poses... My response: NEGATIVE , WRONG, NOTHING....YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!! I can say with almost 100% confidence that there are no 5 yoga poses that will give you Jennifer Anistons body. How do I know this? Cause I'm not an idiot. How do they put this crap out there? Here's my honest assessment of this situation. Jennifer Aniston is hot to begin with (let us remember people in Hollywood are, at least in part, PAID to look good. It's part of their job. They usually, more or less, came that way). She probably works out ALOT, in addition to yoga...OMG she does, … [Read more...]
Dr. Verkhoshansky….
June 28, 2010 by
For a blog dedicated to training and more specifically sports training and sports science it would be a grave travesty if I didn't take the time to acknowledge the passing of Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky this passed weekend. Perhaps no one has been more influential in the development of sport science EVER than Dr. Verkhoshansky. From his bio (emphasis added): "Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky is predominantly known to most westerner readers as the Russian researcher who invented plyometric training (Shock Method). Many coaches and sport scientists around the world, however, recognize Y.Verkhoshansky as a prominent figure in the field of explosive strength training, one of the … [Read more...]
The World Cup…or… Why we suck at Soccer
June 28, 2010 by
World Cup: I never thought I would say this; has been worth watching. (No I'm not some type of soccer whore suddenly and yes I only watch when the U.S. plays). All I'm saying is that last second Landon Donovan stuff was pretty boss, it doesn't matter if you enjoy soccer or not. Pic from http://www.telegraph.co.uk It was just like a story book. Landon scored then blew a kiss to his wife/ ex-wife/ facebook status: "It's complicated" gal pal Bianca Kajlich, how cute is that... Just so you know........ Any way it's been interesting to say the least. What's really awesome is, with a population of 300+ million, and being the richest country on the face of the … [Read more...]
“Monumental fitness findings”…or…”Stuff I found and read”.
June 24, 2010 by
I haven't put up anything in 6 months...cause... I'm lazy. What's changed in that time? I'm now a Master of the pushup (so says McDaniel College) Yes McDaniel College is/ are the "Green Terror" and no, that's not a bad environmental joke. What hasn't changed; most things we do in gyms and believe about fitness/ lifting/ physiology is still wrong, stupid, ineffective and completely made up to sell something. But sometimes we can find good stuff to help kill the broscience beast. Some Caffeine Broscience gets shot down. Broscience: "Bro, caffeine is like so bad for you". "It'll like blow your heart up and stuff". Maybe not: … [Read more...]
Overhead pressing vs. the bench
December 10, 2009 by
Something is going around the interwebs lately that I'm kind of confused with. I keep hearing that the bench press is, wait for it...wait for it....wait for it..."not functional"!!!! ......and dangerous.. Which, in many aspects, may be true...and reasonable. But somehow, some way, overhead pressing is both....."Functional" (which I can see but don't totally agree with) but also SAFER! Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot..... Get it? Whiskey, tango, Foxtrot???? get it? (WTF...it's very subversive) How? How is pressing a weight overhead safer than a bench press? Anatomically this makes no sense....Take a skeleton raise the arm overhead, as would happen in an overhead … [Read more...]
Wii Fit to Fight the Bloat..
December 1, 2009 by
Fitness Plague of the minute: Wii Fit First off: If Wii Fit is your exercise modality of choice, that is and thereby you are, lame. Sorry folks, this, just like every other fitness piece of junk isn't the answer. For the uninitiated: the Wii Fit is a pad you stand on to interact with a video game. Basically you balance, bend and hop on this thing and get in amazing shape, or so they claim. Admittedly, if you are very out of shape or you're in good shape and play for 8 hours straight, yeah, you'll be really sore and think you got a great workout. But did you? Maybe you sweated a little, but seriously, if you're working out for 45 minutes and don't sweat some … [Read more...]
