The premise sounds implausible. Apply a cuff to your arms or legs, restrict blood flow partially, then train with weights 20 to 30% of your one-rep maximum, and produce muscle growth equivalent to heavy training at 70 to 80% of your maximum. It sounds like the kind of shortcut that fitness products promise and peer-reviewed…
Most people who exercise do both strength training and cardiovascular work. They are not strength athletes or endurance athletes. They are general fitness trainees who want to be strong, have good cardiovascular health, and maintain a body composition that reflects consistent training. For these people, concurrent training is not a choice. It is the default….
Three minutes of actual sprint work per week produces the same VO2 max improvement as five full hours of moderate-intensity cycling per week. This is not a headline designed to sell something. It is the finding of a peer-reviewed randomised controlled trial from McMaster University. Sprint interval training operates through a different physiological mechanism than…
Tight hamstrings are the most commonly cited flexibility limitation in recreational athletes. They are also the most commonly treated incorrectly. The standard approach: stretch the hamstrings for 30 seconds, three times, after training. Sometimes before training. Consistently for a few weeks, then irregularly, then not at all, because nothing seems to change. The hamstrings feel…
Every squat you perform at 100 kg involves both legs. One leg may contribute 55 kg worth of force. The other may contribute 45 kg. The bar goes up. The asymmetry is invisible. This hidden asymmetry compounds over months and years of bilateral-only training. The dominant leg becomes increasingly stronger relative to the non-dominant leg….