Break Down the Wall: Lactate Threshold Training

  • February 11, 2010 1:24 pm

If endurance is a critical component of your overall fitness then listen close. You NEED to know what lactate threshold training is. Why you ask? Well to put it as simply as possible, your lactate threshold determines how long and how hard you can exert near maximum effort, or to use the true term, exert yourself at your anaerobic threshold. So what I am saying is this; that wall you hit when you are running, that tries to bring you down to your knees and crumple in pain, is your lactate threshold. Now that we know our enemy, let’s learn how to beat it down.

First we need to understand some key concepts and know that the following is a simplification of a much more complicated set of biochemical processes but will suffice for our purposes.

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A President’s Standard of Fitness: Do you Measure Up?

  • December 9, 2009 12:20 pm

How many of you all remember the presidential fitness tests when we were in grade school? Well there is new test which is based on the same program aimed at adults.

Created in 2008, the adult fitness test is meant to test the aerobic fitness and muscular strength and endurance of the men and women of the United States. It is pretty basic in its testing criteria and easy enough that anyone can do it at home. You could even make it a competition between you and your friends to further motivate yourself to try harder.

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The Subculture of Steroids and Performance Enhancing Drugs

  • December 8, 2009 9:59 pm

The past few years have been unkind to many of the world’s top athletes. Olympic hopefuls to MLB sluggers to Tour De France cyclists, have all fallen prey to intense scrutiny as we seek to maintain the image of a pure natural athlete. I am not going to talk in specific about any one athlete in particular, but rather the culture of altering our bodies by way of non natural processes.

Everyone wants to be the best, be at the pinnacle of whatever sport or activity they may be participating in. We get it in our heads that to beat everyone else, we have to give ourselves a one up and this is where steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) enter into the equation. Sure there are side effects to their use, but they can be mitigated by incredibly careful, doctor assisted monitoring. What I mean is frequent blood work and hormone panels. 98% of PEDS users do not fit into this category of careful use. So why even decide to go that route? You are short changing yourself, determining that you will fail at achieving your goal without even trying.

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Alcohol and Your Heart: A Reason to Raise a Glass

  • December 8, 2009 11:38 am

Here is some health advice that we can all get excited about. Recent research is showing a stronger casual link between alcohol consumption and coronary health.

Before we get into the details let me say a few words. Drinking in this article will be defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. Thus, we are not promoting in any way heavy drinking. Further, if you do not already drink do not start drinking because of this article. Most of the research in this area is new, and though it comes from prestigious institutions it is still not fully understood.

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