May 9, 2024

Why You Should Exercise Like The Hunter-Gatherers

I take it as a given that many of us believe in key aspects of the so-called “hunter-gatherer” (HG) lifestyle: regular daily activity; simple, unprocessed foods; consuming water as our main fluid; hanging out in social pods; and so on. On the other hand, few of us are eager to give up our glasses, hearing aids, certain meds, central HVAC, toilets, cars, cell phones, and much more.

So it becomes a matter of balance. What modern conveniences do you want to keep? What modern habits--long periods of sitting, plastic-wrapped and 

processed foods, etc--are you willing to forego?

In this article, two cardiologist-fans of the HG lifestyle argue that modern humans should pay more attention to the exercise components of daily living. They write little about diet, but point out that HG peoples had few chronic diseases.

As usual, I think they overstate the case that “excessive exercise” is dangerous. This conclusion is tenuous in my view, with little hard data, and many opposing views. For example, this  new study with free full text found no evidence of cardiac fibrosis in male endurance athletes.

But I won’t argue with the notion that it’s smart to take at least one rest day per week. That is smart.

And I agree with much that the authors write. For example, they propose that hunter gatherers averaged about 10,000 steps per day at a low intensity, but also practiced high intensity training (HIT).This happened when they had to sprint at times to conclude a successful hunt. Definitely, a little sprinting is good.

The authors also believe in the power of play in the natural environment. Who doesn’t? But they don’t consider running a form of play--preferring tennis, badminton, soccer, dancing, and … golf!!?? I find this a weak point. No one can define what play means in our individual lives.

Also, a quick thought: Some consider solo running a form of meditation and stress relief, which are big health benefits. Whereas . . . tennis and soccer? I don’t think anyone counts them as meditation.

The paper notes that at least one HG tribe--the Ache, of Paraguay--apparently sing as they walk and hunt. I know runners who do the same while listening to their very modern streaming devices. Particularly if they are following Taylor Swift.

Most importantly, the paper points out that exercise is “one stone that can kill many birds.” (Gosh, what a horrid expression, but you know what it means.) The American Heart Association advises that we follow “Life’s Simple 7” health practices. Regular exercise is one of these, and has a direct impact on 4 others: weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and glucose regulation. Thus it essentially scores 5 out of 7 all by itself. (The other two: no tobacco, healthy diet.)

The big, important conclusion: “Our ancestral hunter-gatherers are thought to have been virtually free of obesity and chronic non-communicable disease in large part due to daily energy expenditures of 800–1200 kcal—3–5 times the total energy expenditure of the average American.” Exercise is medicine. More at J of Science in Sports & Exercise with free full text.

Stride Right: How Quick Steps Help You Run Faster & Smoother

Many studies have shown that a shorter ground contact time is linked to faster running speed. In other words, the less time you spend on the ground (and the more you are airborne), the better and more economical your running pace.

Top running coach and writer Matt Fitzgerald is a believer in teaching runners to lower their ground contact time. That’s what he does in this article. 

His biggest tips: 1) Make sure you’re doing some faster running. Fitzgerald likes short uphill sprints of about 60 meters. The steeper the hill, the less likely the chances that you’ll pull a hamstring.

2) Add some plyometrics. “A little goes a long way,” Fitzgerald notes. He suggests an easy way to begin doing plyometrics: Insert them into the middle of your regular runs. Stop every mile or 2 to perform 20 hops on one leg at a time, for example. “If you don’t like being laughed at, be sure no one’s around when you do this drill.”

3) Pay attention to your stride, so you know the “ground zero” point where your foot is hitting the road. Then try to move this point slightly forward--away from your heels, and toward your midfoot. Also, try “tilting your whole body very slightly forward from the ankles (not the waist!).”

The goal--to make sure your “ground zero” point is not out ahead of your center of mass. If that happens, you’re applying “brakes” to your running--the very opposite of efficiency. More at Training Peaks.

Maximize Your Fitness Fun: 10 Ways To Love Your Workouts 

It’s important not to be too rigid in your approach to exercise. You really shouldn’t run, no matter what your training plan says, on those days when you feel unusually high stress or perhaps an incipient injury.

But you shouldn’t be too flexible in your plan-adherence either. Skip a day here, skip another one there, and soon you’re skipping days that could contribute to your health, fitness, and other goals. 

The NYTimes recently listed 9 ways to combat those excuses we all invent from time to time to forego workouts. Several will speak loudly to you and the situations you confront. I can be Type A about certain things like spending my time productively. So I’ve found the “multitasking” approach very helpful. 

Many of my workouts now include reading for enjoyment and/or learning new things, or listening to podcasts for the same reasons. (Several of the experts interviewed for this article were out walking while talking to the Times journalist.)

Over at the ACSM Health & Fitness Journal, two experts in exercise psychology list “10 Ways to Enhance Pleasure During Exercise.” Music? Not for me, but it seems to be the ticket for millions of happy users. It’s hard to beat exercising outdoors in green (grassy, tree-lined) or blue (near water) environments. I’m lucky enough to live near the New England coastline, and I can attest to the power of these two.

Shining A Light on Recovery: How Infrared Lamps Speed Up The Process

Infrared lights are showing up in more health/wellness categories. For example, many saunas are now heated by these lights rather than traditional wood or stone sources.

Infrared lights are also being promoted for muscle healing and recovery.

That’s the topic of this infrared study. It measured recovery of 24 elite female soccer players after 90 minutes of intermittent sprinting that simulated a full soccer match. 

The subjects weren’t runners in the sense of 10K road runners, but they were high-fit athletes who did a lot of hard running. This effort resulted in muscle damage similar to a race or hard interval training session.

After their 90 minutes of intermittent sprinting, subjects received 4 days of daily light therapy from either an infrared light or a nothing-burger light. They didn’t know which type of light was being used on them. 

The subjects also had daily blood tests to measure muscle-damage markers. And they performed knee muscle exercises, and a series of jumping, hopping, and sprinting exercises.

Conclusion: Subjects who received infrared therapy returned to their normal condition in 3 days vs 4 or 5 days for those receiving the sham treatment. This probably happened because far infrared light can “influence cell membrane potentials and mitochondrial metabolism by thermal and non-thermal effects; increase blood circulation and tissue regeneration; upregulate calcium-dependent nitric oxide and calmodulin; and provide positive effects on antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities.” 

The paper was not funded by any commercial companies or industry groups. More at Scandinavian J of Medicine & Science in Sports with free full text.

How U.S. Mid-Distance Runners Are Getting Better

This article interviews two top U.S. coaches--Ron Warhurst from Michigan and Mark Coogan from Boston--who happen to coach several of the world’s fastest 1500-meter runners. Warhurst coaches Hobbs Kessler, and Coogan, Elle St. Pierre and Emily Mackay. St. Pierre won a gold medal at last winter’s World Indoor Championships, and Kessler and Mackay both grabbed bronzes.

How did they do it? Warhurst and Coogan listed these strong contributors: 1) Coaches and athletes are paying more attention to the science of training, and to the successes of other runners; 2) U.S. runners have more professional teams they can join; 3) Coaches and runners are learning more about recovery, especially how to mix training and recovery; 4) Super shoes might be absorbing tissue damage that previously would have led to injury; 5) Better funding of teams and runners is leading to longer running careers with potentially greater improvements; and 6) Drug testing is getting better, which “levels the playing field.”

Warhurst says: “People have got some good ideas that have come down the pike in the last 10 years or so, and everybody’s doing it, trying it, and everybody’s experimenting with it, and everybody’s kind of putting their own twist to it. It’s basically a lot more strength work, and a lot more volume over a period of time.” 

You might not win a World Championships, but you can put your own spin on the new programs and ideas working for the elites. More at Track & Field News.

4 Steps To Preventing & Overcoming Knee Injuries

I like the way this knee-pain article begins. It highlights an important point--Two seemingly contradictory things can both be true at the same time.

For example, as running physio Tom Goom writes, “Though categorically not bad for your knees, running can be the cause of certain knee pain or injuries.” No doubt about it: Both are true.

The article deals specifically with patellar tendinopathy, which used to be called patellar tendinitis. It causes pain just below the knee, and stiffness and weakness around the knee. 

Downhill running and plyometric jumps are frequent causes of patellar tendinopathy. Often, you’ll feel the pain most intensely when walking down stairs. 

I like Goom’s simple 4 step recovery and prevention program: 1) Calm it down; 2) Improve strength; 3) Build it back up; 4) Keep it happy. 

I also like the helpful photos and charts at the following link, and Goom’s use of isometric leg exercises. He  includes an unusual exercise he calls the “single-leg decline squat.” Check out the photo. More at Runner’s World U.K.

Ultra Runners’ Hidden Helpers--The Pills They Rely On

If any runner is going to pop a pill to help her/him go the distance, it will be an ultrarunner, right? Makes sense. The more the miles you plan to endure, the more likely you’ll look for some kind of assistance.

Plenty of past studies have asked ultrarunners what substances they take before and during races. But these questionnaire-based studies are known to be inaccurate, as subjects don’t always answer honestly. This new report went further.

It performed urine testing on 412 male ultrarunners to objectively determine what they were putting into their bodies. It also compared the urine results to results from a questionnaire.

Outcome: Almost 50% of urine samples showed at least one foreign substance. About 16 percent of these were “prohibited substances.” Yet on the questionnaire, no one acknowledged taking a prohibited drug.

Still, there’s good news here. None of the substances were EPO or testosterone-related, and none of the pill-popping was linked to improved performance. The pills didn’t seem to make anyone stronger or faster. They might have relieved some discomfort.

What exactly showed up in the urine samples? NSAIDs appeared in 22.1% of samples, acetaminophen (15.5%), opioids (6.6%), diuretics (4.9%), hypnotics (4.4%), glucocorticoids (2.7%), beta-2 agonists (2.2%), cannabinoids (1.9%), and stimulants (1.2%). 

It appears that caffeine was not included in this report, as it is certainly widely-used by ultra runners. More at Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise.

Jeff Galloway And The Gospel Of Run-Walking

Jeff Galloway is one of the all time heroes of running. Not just because he was my college roommate, and taught me many important running and life lessons. And not because he was an elite distance runner who won the first Peachtree Road Race, and made a U.S. Olympic Team.

No, what sets Jeff apart is the way he pivoted 180 degrees after his elite days to spend the rest of his life helping slower, out-of-shape runners. Jeff recognized that they had more to gain than anyone else, physically and emotionally, by covering that first mile or two. Long before we first heard about “Couch to 5K,” Jeff helped tens of thousands of runners achieve that very goal with his run-walk programs. 

And then, like Sly Stone, he took them higher and higher … or at least farther and farther. His followers kept run-walking until they covered half-marathons, marathons, and even ultras. (Actually, in ultras, pretty much everyone has to run-walk, which ought to send a strong message: It’s the most efficient way to cover distance on foot.)

For decades, Galloway gave free lectures at countless road races and running stores. He counseled the most-out-of-shape that “Yes, you can.” You can become a runner--even a marathoner--as long as you start slow, and stay controlled. A run-walk program shows the way.

Most coaches are driven to develop state, national, and even international running stars. Galloway never cared about that. He wasn’t trying to burnish his reputation. He was aiming to improve people’s lives and broaden their horizons.

He succeeded like no other coach before him, or since. A heart attack slowed Galloway’s travel schedule several years ago, but didn’t end it. He’s still showing up here and there, preaching the gospel: You can do it; you’ve just got to follow an appropriate run-walk-run program.

I thought I knew a lot about my former roomie, but somehow I missed “Girls Who Jeff,” a private Facebook group with 32,000 members. The group describes itself as “a women only, international running community for those who use or are interested in the Run Walk Repeat technique.” Nice.

This article does a great job summarizing Jeff’s life, coaching, and influence. More at Geezer Jock.

SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss

>>> Eccentric power: Eccentric muscle contractions often boost muscle strength/efficiency, and you only have to do them once a week

>>> Live long & healthy: In “20.9 million observations,” cardio fitness reduced disease and mortality by 18 to 73% depending on subjects’ condition at the outset

>>> There could be an image problem: But, can python meat end obesity, and save the planet?

GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners

"The ultimate is not to win, but to reach within the depths of your capabilities and to compete against yourself to the greatest extent possible.”  

--Billy Mills, 1964 Olympic 10,000-meter winner

April 25 and May 2, 2024

May 2X

Train Less And Run Faster (Yes, It IS Possible)

I first met Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss almost 20 years ago. I had heard about their Furman Institute of Runnning & Scientific Training (FIRST), which claimed that you could “Run Less, Run Faster.” 

Of course, I was skeptical. That’s my nature. So I traveled to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, to check them out. We did several workouts together during my visit.

I learned they were serious, reasonable runners (with advanced academic credentials). Also, the workouts were hard! No wonder their runners often improved by running less. Because they were running faster in training.

I wrote then that the Furman program was “the most detailed, well-organized, and scientific training programs for runners that I have ever seen.” When Pierce and Murr wrote a book about the FIRST approach, it became a big seller that is now in its third (and updated) edition.

Here’s a new article about a 45-year-old Canadian woman who’s also getting faster by running less. And she’s been running for 20 years--a point where it becomes increasingly difficult to improve.

Kate Guy often does just three runs a week: speed work, hill repeats, and long runs with tempo segments sandwiched in.

These Less/Faster approaches aren’t short-cuts. It’s more difficult to run faster than it is to run longer. You’ve got to focus, and work hard.

Here’s another thought: There’s no reason why someone can’t combine several different programs while building up towards a next big race. You could do 6 weeks of Galloway run-walk, followed by 6 weeks of FIRST training. Just be a bit cautious in transitioning from one program to the next. 

There are many ways to improve your running. Often, you have to get out of your rut (the same basic training that you’ve followed for years), and try something new. More at Canadian Running.

How To Be Younger Than Your Birthdays

Exercise and aging researchers have more and more tools at their fingertips every year. Of course they are eager to utilize these tools in various ways. Here are two recent examples.

Some groups have devised blood-based “aging clocks” that distinguish between one’s chronological age and one’s biological age. You’d hope for your biological age to be younger than your chrono age, indicating that you’re in great shape and tiptop health for the coming years.

These aging clocks can be analyzed in many different ways. Of interest: How does exercise affect your biological age clock?

Here, researchers presented two biological clocks. In both, “age acceleration was significantly lower” in athletes vs non-athletic populations. Translation: The athletes had a lower biological age than non athletes with the same chrono age. They were younger than their years

Also, higher body mass index and higher body fat percentage were linked to higher biological age, while higher muscle mass tilted the scales the other way. That is, more muscle “had a beneficial effect on aging.”

Conclusion: “High-volume sports activity may slow down the aging process.” More at Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise with free full text.

You can’t read many exercise papers before you bump into mitochondria, often called “the powerhouse of the cell.” That’s because mitochondria produce the chemical energy that keeps us going.

Mitochondrial power and efficiency decrease with age. There’s no way to avoid this inevitable change … at least, not so far. But exercise appears to slow this mitochondrial decline, according to a new report.

Conclusion: While age-associated declines in mitochondrial characteristics have been reported in some studies, these-associated declines in mitochondrial characteristics “are typically smaller in older adults who are habitually more physically active.” Your mitochondria are basically your life-force; take good care of them. More at Molecular Aspects of Medicine.

10 Ways To Conquer Pre-Race Nerves

All athletes feel pressure before an event. Sure, there’s more if you’re playing in the finals at Wimbledon, or aiming for a gold medal in the Olympic Marathon.

But dealing with internal and external pressures is a reality in a first 5K race, a marathon where you’re aiming to break 4 hours, or any other competition.

When you face a jumble of nerves and anxiety, you wonder how famous champions achieve that often-described “flow state,” filled with calm, focus, and an almost effortless execution of complex, demanding tasks.

Here, performance physiologist Dr. Greg Wells offers 10 tips to “thrive under pressure.” You don’t need to adopt all 10. Pick one or several that will work best for you.

I like “Adopt a ritual.” It fits with my personality. I like having a specific, well-practiced plan, and knowing when to follow it. More at Dr Greg Wells.

Lessons We Can Learn From 6-Day Runners

The recent Lululemon FURTHER event (a 6-day, female-only race in California) was such an over-the-top happening that we’ll probably be thinking about it and talking about it for a long time. The runners themselves are still mulling over what they learned on their multiple loops of the 2.6-mile loop. That’s what this article is about.

(Eventually top sports scientists will be sharing what they found. I can’t wait. And thank you, Lululemon ,for making endurance research an important part of the event.)

Few of us are eager to run one of these monsters ourselves. And why would we be when winner Camille Herron says she suffered from urinary tract infections, organ shutdown, and “things I can’t talk about”?

Still, we want to know if ultra-running opens a window to lessons we can apply to our own training and racing. That’s what this article is about. 

The biggest lesson: Break your long runs into smaller chunks. Try a run-walk routine. Or run loops around your home, stopping briefly for a cold green tea. You could then clean your mouth with a mini-toothbrush, as Courtney Dauwalter does.

Also, many listen to music or podcasts on the run these days. I’m also hearing more stories about runners who sing as they run. I don’t know if this began with Taylor Swift’s apparent 3-hour concert rehearsals on a treadmill, but it brings a smile to my face. I would sing, too, except that would produce effects similar to a nuclear holocaust.

In the Lululemon race, Mirna Valerio sang all the time. “I went through the entirety of Act III of La Boheme,” she said. Fortunately, Valerio has the operative training that I lack.  

Herron and second-place finisher Leah Yingling both used a “reset” strategy to start up again after a long, fatiguing run section. Herron ate tacos; Yingling had someone braid her hair. Hey, it’s your game, you get to make the rules. Pick a reset that you know will refresh you. 

Herron also had to change her expectations after about 4 days. She had been hoping to break the male record for 6 days, but concluded that the conditions and her body’s perturbations wouldn’t let her. “I could either pivot or quit,” she realized. “And I never thought about quitting.” 

That’s just smart running. We’re often encounter running situations that require a pivot. And making that pivot adjustment is almost always better than quitting. 

This is a fascinating article even if you don’t understand the point of running for 6 days. It takes us inside the minds of those who do it. More at Run Outside.

Kickstart Your Friends To A Successful Beginning Running Program

Getting someone (family, friend, co-worker) to begin running is a bit like getting someone to begin losing weight. The early days and early successes are relatively easy.

Then things get real. Life gets in the way. And continuation-maintenance of an obviously healthy program becomes much more difficult. 

In this report, researchers followed and intensively interviewed new runners “through their first 6-12 months of running.” The goal: to find the biggest obstacles these new runners faced as they struggled to continue running. 

Result: The runners who succeeded were those who identified a meaningful Why  for running--a “meaningful reason to run that related to their identity, values, special memories, relationships, enjoyment of running, or a personal goal.” This Why was particularly important when life got complicated.

In the best case scenario, a strong Why was sufficient to help people “learn they could run and experience progress.”

Nonetheless, the Why was not universally successful. Some runners discovered their Why, and still stopped running. The reasons? “Social inequalities like gendered experiences, wealth, and health differences created more barriers for some runners.”

Conclusion: The authors offered these 4 ways to help people maintain a running program: 1) support people in identifying their meaningful reason for exercise; (2) reflect how people’s wider life circumstances and sociocultural factors influence their involvement in exercise; (3) support with building confidence and independence; and (4) help people prioritize exercise by planning for life getting in the way and by cultivating pleasurable experiences.” More at Psychology of Sport & Exercise with free full text.

Shorter Strides Reduce Total Force (And Maybe Injuries)

A convincing amount of data indicates running with a higher cadence/step frequency will reduce your ground impact with every footfall. However, that doesn’t answer an important related question.

How about the total, cumulative ground reaction forces for a given distance. After all, with a shorter stride, you will have to take more strides to cover any distance, and that will increase the number of “collisions” between your body and the ground.

No one knows if force/stride or total accumulated force is more important with regard to injury prevention. But it seems a good idea to know both.

This study set out to answer the total-accumulated-force question. It measured college distance runners who covered a 1000-meter distance with 2 different stride frequencies: 1) their normal stride; and 2) a 10% higher-than-normal frequency, which produced shorter strides. They ran at a reasonable 7 minutes/mile pace.

While the runners were running, the researchers were measuring their “insole force and sacral acceleration.”

Result: Both peak force and cumulative force for the 1000-meter distance decreased with higher stride frequency (shorter strides). Sacral acceleration was more variable.

Conclusion: Runners and clinicians “should consider step rate interventions to reduce peak and cumulative ground reaction force.” More at Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Pelvic Floor Problems: How Women Can Reclaim Comfort And Control

The big and influential American College of Sports Medicine recently named 5 top scientific papers of 2023. These articles have been named the best of the best by those who know best. Each deals with a topic of importance to all exercise and fitness followers, and I’m going to summarize one of them in each of the next 6 weeks of RLRH.

The first is titled “Sports Medicine and the Pelvic Floor.” It appeared here in Current Sports Medicine Reports. It’s one of many newer papers pointing out the lack of sports science information for female athletes, due to the large number of studies that previously only included male subjects.

The paper notes that “symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction are prevalent among female athletes.” These issues present a “barrier to training and performance.” Thus it is critical that women athletes and their physicians become better educated about how to identify and manage pelvic floor dysfunction.

A few key points: Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) is most prevalent at transitional times like pregnancy and menopause. Also, PFD is not always caused by weak pelvic musculature, though this is a widely-held opinion. It can also be caused by tight PF muscles that result in compromised function.

Vaginal dryness is also linked to PFD, and can lead to more urinary tract infections, pain, and poor pelvic floor problems. Vaginal dryness can be treated with localized, topical estrogen, or organic vaginal moisturizers.

Women suffering from PFD face reduced performance, and possible retirement from sports that enhance their health and overall wellbeing.

The paper’s authors, both women researchers, advocate for the 6 Rs: ready, review, restore, recondition, return, and refine. Like other muscle groups, the pelvic floor muscles can be conditioned by focused strength and conditioning exercises. These “should be undertaken as part of all female athlete training programs.” 

Our Soldiers Should Be Wearing “Super Boots” (Like Super Shoes)

When you look at the big picture, it’s nice that a few elite marathon runners get to wear $500 sneakers. The shoes help them reach the finish line several minutes faster than in older, more traditional (and less expensive) racing flats. But is that the ultimate use for AFT (Advanced Footwear Technology)?

Maybe not. There are, after all, global events more important than marathons in Boston, London, Beijing, Sydney, Cape Town, and hundreds of other major cities. There are wars.

Napoleon supposedly said  "an army marches on its stomach.” He would have been more accurate to say an army marches on its boots. And if those boots included AFT, the army would be more efficient. 

That’s the conclusion of a recent paper that looked into theoretical benefits of military boots constructed more like marathon super shoes. The researchers included U.S. Army experts and personnel from the New Balance Sports Research Lab. 

Result: AFT boots could improve soldier running times over a 2-mile distance by about 8 to 15%. This would also lower the “heat strain” experienced by soldiers--often a significant issue in hot war-time environments.

Conclusion: “These findings highlight the impact that innovative military super boots would have on physical performance and heat strain in soldiers, which could potentially maximize the likelihood of mission success in real-world scenarios.” More at BMJ Military Health with free full text.

SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss

>>> Another way to beat depression: Strength training, like aerobic training, can reduce symptoms of depression.

>>> Get real now: A new paper argues that NSAIDs should be banned in long races because “Many runners are vulnerable to kidney damage during long-duration exercise."

>>> Capsules or coffee? As with coffee, taking caffeine tablets/capsules 45 minutes pre-exercise significantly improves muscle strength and endurance.

GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners

“Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.”

 – Lynn Jennings, 9 time winner of the USA National Cross Country Championships

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See  you again next week. Amby

April 25 X

You Can Run, AND You Can Hide (From Chronic Disease)

Here’s a great and important new exercise paper that produced some numbers and ratios we’ve never seen before. It aimed to establish the relative effectiveness of different activities to reduce your risk of “cardiometabolic disease”--heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. The large group of researchers included many global authorities.

In particular, it looked at walking, running, stair climbing, standing, and sitting times. How much is required to reduce disease risks? Or, in the case of sitting, at what point does too much sitting increase risks?

To accomplish this impressive dose-response goal, the researchers used thigh-based accelerometers on more than 12,000 subjects. Subjects wore the accelerometers for 7 days. They came from the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Placement on the thigh is important, because thigh accelerometers can suss out sitting time wh ileaccelerometers can’t.

Here are some of the “numbers” that emerged from the study. Walking 64 minutes/day produced “more favorable composite cardiometabolic health.” You could get the same health improvement from just 5 minutes of stair climbing. 

However, the researchers judged walking 64 minutes a more comfortable way to achieve benefits, as 5 minutes of stair climbing would amount to 350 steps upward. That’s roughly one-fifth of the way to the top of the Empire State Building on its stairway.

Standing for 2.6 hours would also lower cardiometabolic risks. If we standardize the three activities noted thus far, setting stair climbing to “1,” then the ratio is 1 minute of stair climbing = 12 minutes of walking = 30 minutes of standing. Or, the other way around, standing:walking:stair climbing = 30:12:1. It takes 30 minutes of standing to equal 1 minute of stair climbing.

Now, you’ve probably been wondering where running fits into these equations. Me, too. And here’s the remarkable answer: “Any amount of running” reduces cardiometabolic risk. 

That’s worth repeating: “Any amount of running.” You can hardly beat that for a powerful effect.

Your daily sitting time didn’t fare as badly in this paper as in others. Moreover, it was eliminated in those who exercised moderately. Otherwise, sitting more than 12.1 hours a day was linked to an increase in cardiometabolic health issues.

Overall, this paper shows that you can run, AND you can hide … from the worst chronic health problems. Of course, this isn’t true for everyone. We’re all different. 

But it is true on the overall population level. If we could get more people running and exercising vigorously, we could lower the levels of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and the like. More at Diabetologia with free full text.

Beware: You’ve Got “ANTS” In Your Head

Here’s a new one. I have to admit I had never heard of ANTS in a running and exercise context--at least not before reading this article. I thought ants were those innocent but bothersome little creepies who seem to know instantly when I’ve left a smidgeon of peanut butter on the kitchen counter.

But, no. These ANTS are Automatic Negative Thoughts. And I agree they are all around us much like my kitchen counter friends. Only they’re more harmful. They bring limits to our performances when we should seek wide-open horizons. 

The smartest thing I’ve ever heard an elite athlete say came from Ryan Hall, and he said it very early in his running career. “When I start a race, I don’t know if I’m going to win or lose,” he told me in an interview. “I don’t know if I’ll run fast. But I’m open to the possibility.”

The author of this piece lists 10 common ANTS. I recognize them all, and you will, too. I particularly dislike “All or Nothing Thinking” and “Personalization.” It’s way too easy to think that we personally contributed to some bad outcome when the reality is that larger and more random forces are the main cause. Get rid of those negative thoughts!

How? You’ll find some good strategies at Run Outside. Positive thinking used to be mumbo-jumbo. Now it’s becoming science. 

Careful What You Eat For 3 Days Pre-Race

Here’s the first and most important thing I learned from this study. “Whole gastrointestinal transit can take up to 73 hours.” That means that the foods you consume 3 days pre race can affect your race day. That includes possible stomach issues. Repeat: 3 days.

This wasn’t, however, the objective behind a new report on links between diet and stomach issues of 44 runners in a 56K ultramarathon trail race. The researchers were most intent on testing the theory that FODMAP foods (clearly defined here) can cause stomach problems.

To that end, they measured subjects’ FODMAP consumption for 3 days pre-race and during the race. They also interviewed the runners immediately after the event to assess their stomach issues. A whopping 84% reported one or several unpleasant sensations. These included: bloating, vomiting, flatulence, diarrhea … need we go on?

These stomach/GI problems were not, however, linked to FODMAP consumption, which was quite low among the runners. So they might have been limiting their FODMAPS based on prior experiences and/or instructional materials they had read. 

The runners with the worst problems consumed more fat, and more sorbitol or mannitol during the race. These are “sugar alcohols commonly found in some fruits (apples, pears, avocado, watermelon), vegetables (mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower) and artificially sweetened products like chewing gum.”

The runners with stomach issues also took in more caffeine in the 3 prior days or during the event. The investigators termed this a “novel finding.”

Conclusion: “Findings from this study do not support the general application of a low-FODMAP diet to runners for prevention of gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly in healthy runners (e.g., free from IBS and preexisting gastrointestinal conditions), or when FODMAP intake is <39 g/day. Low FODMAP diets are restrictive and may have detrimental effects on nutrient intake, the microbiome composition and production of beneficial byproducts of bacterial fermentation (e.g., short-chain fatty 

More at Nutrition & Dietetics. The research was funded by a nonprofit organization named “Ultra-Endurance Sports Science & Medicine.”

Breathe Strong To Run Strong

The effect of respiratory muscle on running performance is beginning to gain more attention. Previously, it has been largely overlooked, with research focused more on heart muscle and leg muscle.

The basic question: How forcefully can you inhale and exhale, and does it make a difference? This paper looked for an answer among 233 runners from the 2023 Beijing Olympic Forest Park Half Marathon.

The researchers assessed various simple characteristics of the runners--age, gender, height, weight--and also gave them a test to examine their inspiratory and expiratory lung function. Then they analyzed their data to find associations with half-marathon performance. 

Gender, height, and weight made a difference. Surprisingly, age didn’t. But the subject sample might have included only runners with a small range of ages--mostly in their mid 40s. The results also showed that inspiratory and, especially, expiratory force predicted race outcomes. 

Conclusion: “Respiratory muscle training is considered an effective strategy for improving marathon performance, as it strengthens respiratory muscle strength, improves lung function, and enhances the respiratory threshold, thereby improving athletes’ respiratory stability and endurance.” More at Frontiers in Physiology with free full text.

14 Ways To Prevent Calf Pains On The Run

Occasional calf pain is a near universal issue for runners. And it makes sense. Those skinny little muscles down south of your knee don’t have nearly the size and strength of those above the knee. So they’re going to be sensitive to the stress and strain of running.

What’s to be done? First and foremost, listen carefully when your calf muscles are tender/sore, and consider rest or cross training as necessary. There are also other precautions you can take--everything from better hydration to foam rolling to a change of stride. 

This article doesn’t mention the latter, but transitioning your stride to more of a rearfoot landing will likely decrease calf strains.

Otherwise, there are 14 solid ideas here, all presented in an easy to follow box. More at Marathon Handbook.

7 Habits Of Highly Successful Health

Physiologist Brady Holmer, author of the “Physiologically Speaking” newsletter at Substack, usually bases everything he writes on snippets here and consensus there of what evidence tells us about a particular topic. That’s what we want--evidence. Here he departs a bit … but just a bit.

He gives us his personal list of “7 Rules For Optimal Health.” You can’t objectively construct such Rules from a search of the scientific literature, because there are tens of thousands of papers that waltz around key aspects of health, and they all present tiny snippets of data. As a result, the whole is less than the sum of the parts.

There is one widely-shared list called the “Alameda 7,” named after the California county where the original research was conducted decades ago by Lester Breslow.This list includes: never smoking, drinking alcohol in moderation, 7-8 hours of sleep/night, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, avoiding excessive snacking, and eating breakfast. Pretty good guidelines.

Holmer’s list is more personal, idiosyncratic, interesting … and based snippets of research. Here are his first 4 Rules. You’ll have to subscribe to his newsletter (there’s a 7-day free trial offer) to get the final 3, which are somewhat unexpected.

1--Get 7,500 steps daily beyond exercise steps; 2) Maintain a consistent bedtime-wake time schedule; 3) Do some strength training every day; 4) Eat breakfast … most days. More at Physiologically Speaking.

Ladies: Start Your Leg-Strengthening Engines

Why Female Runners Need Leg Strength Training

Women runners generally report more knee injuries than males. This could be due to a greater hip-knee angle, weaker quad muscles, or other factors. However, a study of 32 female runners with “chronic patellofemoral pain” points to a relatively easy improvement strategy.

The research protocol asked the women to follow an at-home “8-week, high frequency strengthening program.” What does high frequency mean, you might wonder. Three times a week? Four?

No. Think higher. The subjects did their strength training twice a day, every day. Fourteen times. They didn’t use heavy weights, but rather 50% of their 1-rep maximum.

Result: “There was large and statistically significant improvement at 8 and 12 weeks for average knee pain.”

Conclusion: “An 8-week high frequency strength training program appears to be beneficial in improving pain, function, and mechanical and thermal pain sensitivity measures in female runners with chronic PFP.” More good news: “There were no adverse events reported” by the women who followed this program. More at Physical Therapy in Sport.

In fact, strength-training of the legs is so effective that you should incorporate it into your lifetime running plan. A recent PhD thesis from a kinesiology and rehabilitation student at Old Dominion University studied “female recreational runners.” The results showed that “lower extremity muscle strength may play a role in maintaining running speed into middle- and older age.” 

Remember: You don’t have to aim for world-record lifts. It’s just as effective, and smarter, to use modest weights, and perform more repetitions.

Deep Sea Water Benefits? Some. But Not Enough

Here’s a strange subject that has come up, loosely, a few times in the past. I admit it: I like to explore the unexpected, as long as there are some hints of possible success.

In this case, the subject is drinking salty water, perhaps straight from the ocean, to improve endurance performance. Namely: Can salty water, perhaps from the ocean, somehow improve endurance performance? Here’s one study that found a rehydrations benefit from ocean water.

A new paper looked into the potential performance benefit of “deep seawater supplementation” (DSW)” during endurance performance. It involved 19 subjects who completed a triathlon while consuming either: deep seawater, an isotonic placebo, or tap water. An isotonic drink is one containing the same amount of sodium as sweat. 

The subjects completed a “vertical jump test” and an “isometric muscle strength test” before and after their triathlons. Result: There were no differences in the jump test, but the subjects who drank the seawater performed significantly better on the isometric strength test. That is, the DSW seemed to delay failure of muscle function in isometric contractions.

However, this did not affect triathlon performance. There were no performance differences between the three drink conditions. 

Conclusion: The deep seawater didn’t have any negative effects on muscle function. But it also did “not improve performance in sports.” More at J of Clinical Medicine with free full text

SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss

>>> Don’t believe the label: A study of sports supplements found that 40% contained a non-detectable amount of the supposed beneficial ingredient, and 12% contained an FDA-prohibited substance

>>> Feel the love: In men, high-intensity training boosts brain levels of oxytocin, sometimes called “the love hormone.”

>>> Blazing fast shoes: Check out the new laceless shoes worn by Boston Marathon winner, Hellen Obiri

GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners

“The body does not want you to do this. It tells you to stop, but the mind must be strong. You must handle the pain with strateg. It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.” 

--Jacqueline Gareau, former Boston Marathon winner