ALAN 's      Nuggets!

If you wish to perform at a high level, you need to consume fluids. For each 1% of body weight lost due to dehydration, your performance slips by about 2%, and a meagre 2% loss in weight can force your heart rate and body temperature to spiral upward, making strenuous exercise almost impossible to carry out.

So what are the rules for fluid intake? How much do you really need and what should your drink be like? To make it easy for you, we have listed the seven rules of fluid intake during exercise below. If you follow these rules, you will keep your body water intact during exercise and perform at a much higher level.

Rule 1:
The rate of passage of water from your stomach into your small intestine depends on how much fluid is actually in your stomach. If there is lots of water there, fluid flow from stomach to intestine is like a springtime flood; if there is little water, the movement resembles a lightly dripping tap. Therefore, to increase stomach intestinal flow (and overall absorption of water) you need to deposit a fair amount of liquid in your stomach just before you begin your exercise. In fact, 10 to 12 ounces of fluid is a good start. This will feel uncomfortable at first, so practise funnelling this amount of beverage into your ‘tank’ several times before an actual competition.

Rule 2:
To sustain a rapid movement of fluid into your small intestine during your exertions, take three to four sips of beverage every 10 minutes if possible, or five to six swallows every 15 minutes.

Rule 3:
If you are going to be exercising for less than 60 minutes, do not worry about including carbohydrate in your drink; plain water is fine. For more prolonged efforts, however, you will want the carbohydrate.

Rule 4:
Years of research have suggested that the correct concentration of carbohydrate in your drink is about 5 to 7%. Most commercial sports drinks fall within this range, and you can make your own 6% drink by mixing five tablespoons of table sugar with each litre of water that you use. A bit of sodium boosts absorption; one third teaspoon of salt per litre of water is about right. Although 5 to 7% carbohydrate solutions seem to work best for most individuals, there is evidence that some endurance athletes can fare better with higher concentrations. In research carried out at Liverpool John Moores University, cyclists who ingested a 15% maltodextrin solution improved their endurance by 30% compared to individuals who used a 5% glucose drink. The 15% drink also drained from the stomach as quickly as the 5% one, though many other studies have linked such concentrated drinks with a slowdown in water movement.

Rule 5:
A 6% ‘simple sugar’ drink will empty from your stomach at about the same rate as a fancy, 6% ‘glucose polymer’ beverage, so do not fall for the idea that the latter can boost water absorption or enhance your performance more than the former, and do not pay more for the glucose-polymer concoction.

Rule 6:
Contrary to what you have heard, cold drinks are not absorbed into your body more quickly than warm ones. However, cold drinks are often more palatable than warm ones during exercise, so if coldness helps you to drink large quantities of fluid while you exert yourself, then keep your drinks cool.

Rule 7:
Swilling drinks during exercise does NOT increase your risk of digestive system problems. In actuality, most gut disorders that arise during exercise are caused by dehydration, not from taking in fluid. Dehydration induces nausea and discomfort by reducing blood flow to the digestive system, so by all means keep drinking

John

This is a good reason for us who dislike running to keep going with the weight training - your weight is NOT at the mercy of having to go running a marathon every couple of months.

A variety of scientific research then showed that exercise could stop this vicious cycle. For one thing, exercise helped maintain muscle mass, and it also seemed possible that exercise could raise - not lower - metabolic rate during the time periods between workouts.

However, studies weren't always able to show that exercise really raised metabolic rates, nor was it clear that the potential increases in metabolic rate were substantial enough to make a difference for weight loss. Scientists were also unclear about how different types of exercise influenced metabolic rate. It was certain that a long, intense run, for example, could raise metabolic rate significantly during the post-workout hours, but what about other sports such as weight lifting?

Now, scientists at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands have some good news: weight training can increase the quantity of fat that you burn while you sleep! In the Limburg research, 21 healthy males between the ages of 25 and 45 who had not previously participated in a weight-training programme trained vigorously twice a week over a 12-week period. Each workout lasted about 90 minutes and consisted of a 10-minute warm-up on an exercise bicycle, 14 exercises with free weights and machine gym equipment, and then five minutes of cool down cycling and stretching. The 14 exercises included flys, seated lat pulldowns, leg presses, butterflys, triceps pushdowns, sit-ups, calf raises, leg curls, chest presses, leg extensions, shoulder raises, leg raises, and preacher bench curls. Subjects usually completed two to three sets of 10-15 reps per exercise.

At the end of the 12-week period, metabolic rate hadn't budged by an inch. The subjects were burning about one calorie per minute as they slept before the study began - and after it was over, too. That was in spite of the fact that the weight trainers lopped off about five pounds of body fat during the study and tacked on about two new pounds of sinewy muscle and bone. Muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat, so you might have reckoned that whole-body metabolic rate would have gone up.

Although metabolic rate was unchanged, the training programme did produce one very pleasant effect, in addition to the muscle gain and fat loss. The rate at which the athletes burned fat WHILE SLEEPING increased by 7 per cent. Although athletes continued to burn just one calorie per minute during sleep, a larger 'chunk' of that calorie was contributed by fat. Over time, this could lead to continued, valuable improvements in body composition. In fact, assuming that the fat-burning gain during sleep amounted to about one-twentieth of a calorie per minute, the uplifted fat metabolism could produce about a two-pound loss of fat each year - and even greater fat trimming if the effect was present throughout the day.

The bottom line? Weight training is an excellent activity for runners and other sports-active people. In addition to fortifying the legs against injuries, weight training can burn six to 12 calories per minute during a workout (the higher figure applies when you're working your leg muscles vigorously), and can increase fat metabolism when you're at rest.

Why didn't the weight-training programme raise metabolic rate? It's possible that a longer period of time - and greater gains in muscle mass - might have been needed to really stoke the metabolic fires.
 

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21/05/07 Strength Training

This picture compliments the picture above.

He is fully buried in the water - the paddle depth is spot on.

His inside arm is out over the side of where the boat would be and close to the side of the boat.

His outside arm is STILL straight and will remain so until we go to recovery.

His spine is straight there is very little lean out over the side of the boat !

This sketch shows the change in body position required during the stroke to direct the energy into driving the boat forward.

The upper arm drives down and when the blade is fully buried he sits up and drives forward off his outside leg.

When close to

We talk a lot about technique but do we really understand when we are shown standing on a pontoon or can we all see when we demonstrate in the boat ?

 

I have found a couple of pictures which might help although the paddlers are demonstrating for a canoe.

upright the de-rotation is completed to utilise the muscles across the shoulder and the back developing the lats, deltoids and trapezius

These are the back muscles that we should be using to provide most of the power we need to develop to drive the boat forward with speed.

Our training sessions on the water are aimed at building our strength and ability to endure the physical effort required throughout the race distance.

John

The Press-Up Test: How To Assess The Endurance Of Your Upper Body Muscles

Brian Mackenzie explains two versions of the press-up test that can be conducted to assess the endurance of your upper body muscles.

Required resources
To undertake this test you will require a flat surface, mat, stop watch and a partner.

How to conduct the test
The press-up test is conducted as follows:

● Lie on the mat, hands shoulder width apart and fully extend the arms
● Lower the body until the elbows reach 90°
● Return to the starting position with the arms fully extended
● The feet are not to be held
● The push up action is to be continuous with no rest
● Complete as many press-ups as possible
● Record the total number of full body press-ups.

Female athletes tend to have less relative strength in the upper body and therefore can use the modified press up position to assess their upper body strength. The test is then performed as follows:

● Lie on the mat, hands shoulder width apart, bent knee position and fully extend the arms
● Lower the upper body until the elbows reach 90°
● Return to the starting position with the arms fully extended
● The feet are not to be held
● The push up action is to be continuous with no rest
● Complete as many modified press-ups as possible
● Record the total number of modified press-ups.

Analysis
Analysis of the result is by comparing it with the results of previous tests. It is expected that, with appropriate training between each test, the analysis would indicate an  improvement.

Assessment
The table provides standards for scoring the full body push-up and the modified push-up test.
 

From Pollock, ML, et al: Health and Fitness Through Physical Activity. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1984.

Target group
This test is suitable for active individuals but not for those where the test would be contraindicated.

Reliability
Reliability would depend upon how strictly the test is conducted and the individual's level of motivation to perform the test.

How much weight are you pressing?
When you perform the full press-up you are lifting about 75% of your body weight and in the modified press-up position you are lifting about 60% of your body weight.

John