Running

• Instructables web site has a a collection of articles on running:
  • How to Run Faster – http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Run-Faster-2/
  • Proper Form for Uphill & Downhill Running (video) – http://www.instructables.com/id/Proper-Form-for-Uphill-amp-Downhill-Running/
• Fuel efficiency for marathoners (HarvardScience) – http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/10/fuel-efficiency-for-marathoners/ – New research helps runners set the right pace for 26.2 miles
  • Running Endurance Calculator – http://endurancecalculator.com/ [Java Applet]
  • “Metabolic Factors Limiting Performance in Marathon Runners” by Benjamin I. Rapoport (Harvard Medical School and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Division of Health Sciences and Technology) – http://www.ploscompbiol.org/mirror/article/pcbi.1000960.html
    Abstract: Each year in the past three decades has seen hundreds of thousands of runners register to run a major marathon. Of those who attempt to race over the marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards (42.195 kilometers), more than two-fifths experience severe and performance-limiting depletion of physiologic carbohydrate reserves (a phenomenon known as ‘hitting the wall’), and thousands drop out before reaching the finish lines (approximately 1–2% of those who start). Analyses of endurance physiology have often either used coarse approximations to suggest that human glycogen reserves are insufficient to fuel a marathon (making ‘hitting the wall’ seem inevitable), or implied that maximal glycogen loading is required in order to complete a marathon without ‘hitting the wall.’ The present computational study demonstrates that the energetic constraints on endurance runners are more subtle, and depend on several physiologic variables including the muscle mass distribution, liver and muscle glycogen densities, and running speed (exercise intensity as a fraction of aerobic capacity) of individual runners, in personalized but nevertheless quantifiable and predictable ways. The analytic approach presented here is used to estimate the distance at which runners will exhaust their glycogen stores as a function of running intensity. In so doing it also provides a basis for guidelines ensuring the safety and optimizing the performance of endurance runners, both by setting personally appropriate paces and by prescribing midrace fueling requirements for avoiding ‘the wall.’ The present analysis also sheds physiologically principled light on important standards in marathon running that until now have remained empirically defined: The qualifying times for the Boston Marathon.

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Related local links: Fitness links – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/fitness-links/

Yoga

• YogaJournal – http://www.yogajournal.com/
  • “Is Yoga Enough to Keep You Fit?” by Alisa Bauman (YogaJournal) – http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/739: We sent three yogis to the lab to test the theory that yoga is all you need for optimal fitness. …
  • “A Woman’s Lifeline” by Nora Isaacs – http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2560?print=1 – How to create a nurturing practice for every stage of your life.
  • “The Secret to Better Arm Balances?” by Jason Crandell – http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2646?print=1 – Think relaxation, not strength.
• YogaSpy blog – http://yogaspy.com/

Yoga Nidra

• “Yoga Nidra Practice” by Rod Stryker (Yoga International; 2013.07.10) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-nidra-practice
• “What is Yoga Nidra?” by Rolf Sovik (Yoga International; 2013.07.06) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/what-is-yoga-nidra | @YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NBImrP0aPk#at=17
• “Yoga Nidra: Introduction to the Complete Practice” by Rolf Sovik (Yoga International; 2013.07.02) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-nidra-introduction-to-the-complete-practice | @YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6usuqKQOiqM#at=83
• “How to Strengthen Your Inner Resolve with Yoga Nidra” by Kelly McGonigal (Yoga International; 2013.05.24) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-strengthen-your-inner-resolve-with-yoga-nidra
  • Yoga teacher and psychologist Kelly McGonigal describes a yoga nidra practice that can help you strengthen your sankalpa (resolve).
• “How to Create a Sankalpa” by Kelly McGonigal (Yoga International; 2013.06.12) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-create-a-sankalpa
• “31 Points Relaxation Audio Practice” by Steve Harris (Yoga International; 2013.07.17) – https://yogainternational.com/article/view/31-points-relaxation-audio-practice/

Books and Magazines

• “The Martial Artist’s Book of Yoga: Improve Flexibility, Balance and Strength for Higher Kicks, Faster Strikes, Smoother Throws, Safer Falls, and Stronger Stances” by Lily Chou and Kathe Rothacher – http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1569754721/ref=sib_dp_pt
• Yoga Journal archive at Google Books – http://books.google.com/books?id=0-kDAAAAMBAJ

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Related local links: Fitness links – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/fitness-links/

Fitness links

Sites:

• “Military Wisdom of Fitness”: military.wisdomoffitness.com
  • Articles: http://military.wisdomoffitness.com/category/articles/
• Jason Ross’ blog “Train Out Pain” – http://trainoutpain.blogspot.com/
• Workout Generator – http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_plan_generator.asp
• “On Fitness” blog (USA Today) – http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-fitness
• ExRx.net – http://www.exrx.net/:
  • Exercise & Muscle Directory – http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
  • Exercise and sports psychology – http://www.exrx.net/Psychology.html

Pushups

• “For Killer Abs, Try Some … Push-Ups?” by Nick Bromberg – http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201103/killer-abs-try-some-push-ups
• 100 push-ups challenge (at this blog) – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/100-pushups-chalenge/
• “The Ultimate Push-up Guide: 35+ Push-up Exercises” by Brett & Kate McKay (The Art of Manliness; 2009.07.21) – http://artofmanliness.com/2009/07/21/push-ups-exercises/

Pull-ups

• 7 weeks to 50 pull-ups – http://www.fiftypullups.com/
• http://twentypullups.com/content/week-1-0
• http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/27_04_pullup_chalng.pdf
• The Twenty Pull-ups Challenge – http://twentypullups.com/
  • The whole program in one PDF file – http://twentypullups.com/20-pull-ups_ilka-helo.pdf

Various

• “7 Time-Wasting Mistakes You’re Making at the Gym” by Leta Shy (PopSugar; 2013.06.30) – http://www.fitsugar.com/Gym-Time-Wasters-30637782
• “8 Essential Strength-Training Exercises to Master” by Leta Shy (PopSugar; 2013.03.09) – http://www.fitsugar.com/Most-Effective-Strength-Training-Exercises-28394198
• “8 Reasons Why You Should Lift Heavier Weights” by Charlotte Hilton Andersen – http://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/8-reasons-why-you-should-lift-heavier-weights
  • 1 – You’ll Torch Body Fat
  • 2 – You’ll Look More Defined
  • 3 – You’ll Fight Osteoporosis
  • 4 – You’ll Burn More Calories
  • 5 – You’ll Build Strength Faster
  • 6 – You’ll Lose Belly Fat
  • 7 – You’ll Feel Empowered
  • 8 – You’ll Prevent Injury
• “People who are more fit during middle age have less chronic illness in later years, study shows” By Michelle Castillo (CBS News) – http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57501737-10391704/people-who-are-more-fit-during-middle-age-have-less-chronic-illness-in-later-years-study-shows/
• “The Scientific 7-Minute Workout” by Gretchen Reynolds (Wll; NYTimes blog; 2013.05.09) – http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/
  • “In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science. … “There’s very good evidence” that high-intensity interval training provides “many of the fitness benefits of prolonged endurance training but in much less time,” … The exercises should be performed in rapid succession, allowing 30 seconds for each, while, throughout, the intensity hovers at about an 8 on a discomfort scale of 1 to 10, … Those seven minutes should be, in a word, unpleasant.”
  • These 12 phases are:
    • 1) Jumping jacks
    • 2) Wall sits
    • 3) Push-ups
    • 4) Abdominal crunch
    • 5) Step-up onto chair
    • 6) Squat
    • 7) Triceps dip on chair
    • 8) Plank
    • 9) High knees running in place
    • 10) Lunge
    • 11) Push-ups and rotation
    • 12) Side plank
• “Strength vs. Endurance: Why You Are Wasting Your Time in the Gym” by Mark Rippetoe (2014.01.29) – http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/01/29/strength-vs-endurance-why-you-are-wasting-your-time-in-the-gym/
  • Medical professionals still steer older patients towards endurance, to their detriment.
• “Superset Your Workouts to Save Time, but Add Intensity” by Michele Foley (PopSugar Fitness; June 29, 2011) – http://www.fitsugar.com/Supersets-Add-Intensity-Save-Time-During-Workouts-962125
• “Warm up, cardio & games” – http://www.7weekstofitness.com/warm-up-cardio-games/
• “Can Jumping Rope Get You Ripped?” by Nick Bromberg (Yahoo Sports; 2011.05.13) – http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201105/double-dutch-treat-can-jumping-rope-get-you-ripped/
• “What’s the Single Best Exercise?” (New Yourk Times; 2011.04.15) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17exercise-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
  But when pressed, he suggested one of the foundations of old-fashioned calisthenics: the burpee, in which you drop to the ground, kick your feet out behind you, pull your feet back in and leap up as high as you can. “It builds muscles. It builds endurance.” He paused. “But it’s hard to imagine most people enjoying” an all-burpees program, “or sticking with it for long.” …
  … And sticking with an exercise is key, even if you don’t spend a lot of time working out. The health benefits of activity follow a breathtakingly steep curve. “The majority of the mortality-related benefits” from exercising are due to the first 30 minutes of exercise, … A recent meta-analysis of studies about exercise and mortality showed that, in general, a sedentary person’s risk of dying prematurely from any cause plummeted by nearly 20 percent if he or she began brisk walking (or the equivalent) for 30 minutes five times a week. If he or she tripled that amount, for instance, to 90 minutes of exercise four or five times a week, his or her risk of premature death dropped by only another 4 percent. So the one indisputable aspect of the single best exercise is that it be sustainable. …
• “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” by John Cloud (Time online; 2009.08.09) – http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html
• “Are the Religious Prone to Obesity?” by Randy Dotinga (Bloomberg Businessweek; 2011.03.23) – http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/651145.html
  • New research finds that people who frequently attend religious services are significantly more likely to become obese by the time they reach middle age. The study doesn’t prove that attending services is fattening, nor does it explain why weight might be related to faith. Even so, the finding is surprising, especially considering that religious people tend to be in better health than others, …
  • Scientists have been studying links between religious behavior and health for years, and have found signs that there’s a positive connection between the two. The studies suggest that religious involvement — whether it’s private or public — is linked to things like better physical health, less depression and more happiness, …
  • After adjusting their statistics to take into account factors such as race, the researchers found that 32 percent of those who attended services the most became obese by middle age … By contrast, only 22 percent of those who attended services the least became obese.
  • What might explain obesity among those who attend services regularly? There are plenty of theories. … one possibility is that those who attend services, along with activities such as Bible study and prayer groups, could be “just sitting around passively instead of being outside engaging in physical activity.” Also, … “a lot of the eating traditions surrounding religion are not particularly healthy; for example, constant feasts or desserts after services or at holidays — fried chicken, traditional kosher foods cooked in schmaltz (chicken fat), and so on.”
  • There’s another question: Why might religious people be obese yet still have good health? The fact that fewer are smokers might help explain that, …

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Local: Running – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/running/ | Yoga – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/yoga/ | 100 pushups challenge – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/100-pushups-chalenge/

100 Pushups chalenge

We started this challenge 6 weeks ago. Some hints:

• Repeat the previous week (actually the two-week block) as frequently as necessary
• Give yourself enough pause between sets: if instructions say 1 minute, but you need more rest, take 2 minutes.
• Same is if you feel that you need an extra day in middle of a practice week – it feels that I can do more and easier after such a extra day of rest.
• If you do these in the morning the first several sets will hurt more that if you do the challenge in the evening. I guess it is up to not being warmed-up and stretched enough.
• If you are doing some other challenge, too, you may want to stagger the days, e.g. do the push-ups training on Mon/Wed/Fri and sit-ups training on Tue/Thu/Sat. The only downside of such combination is that towards the end of the week you are really temped to postpone one or another challenge practice, since your body may be aching for a rest day.
• The current combination that works very well for us to do both push-ups and sit-ups challenges the same day, by interleaving their sets. Do the first push-up set, than immediately the first sit-ups set, and do the first 1/2 minutes pause only then, etc.

Links:

• Official site: http://hundredpushups.com/
• 100 pushups training – http://www.100pushups.info/
  • pushup test – http://www.100pushups.info/pushups-test/
• 100 Push-Ups in 100 Seconds Challenge – http://www.parttimepersonaltrainer.com/2008/09/05/100-push-ups-in-100-seconds-challenge/
• “Working Towards 100+ Pushups” at Iron Dungeon – http://www.impulseadventure.com/weights/100push.html
• 100pushups – article at FriendFeed – http://friendfeed.com/100pushups
• Pushups logger – http://www.pushupslogger.com/
• Photos of some pushup forms at Flicker – http://www.flickr.com/photos/24175726@N08/
• Twitter feed – http://twitter.com/100Pushups
• 100 Pushups Workout with rings – http://www.ringtraining.com/articles/100-pushups-workout.html
• do 100 pushups – at 43Things – http://www.43things.com/things/view/56685/do-100-pushups
• Can I Do 100 Pushups? – http://www.lazymanandhealth.com/can-i-do-100-pushups/
• I 100 Pushups at ExperienceProject – http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/100-Pushups/12552

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Local links: Fitness links – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/fitness-links/.