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MKPerformance.com
If you coach, or simply want assistance developing a strength and conditioning program for a particular sport, here's a resource worth visiting.
MKPerformance is a web site created by Matt Kritz containing strength and conditioning programs for dozens of sports. In fact Matt says that if the sport you are interested in doesn't have a program on his site, let him know and he'll create one!
Programs appear in easy to read tables, and there is a glossary with diagrams of all the lifts.
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The following information appears on Matt Kritz's MKPerformance web site.
Knee Pain
Do you suffer from knee pain? Perhaps your hamstrings need little more attention?
The stabilization of your knee and its supporting ligaments and tendons rely largely on the strength relationship betweeny our Quadriceps and your Hamstrings. If that relationship is not close to 2:1, (i.e. your quads are twice as strong as your hamstrings) then there is a greater potential for pain, inflammation, or injury.
The moral of this story is to make sure your strength training routine has enough exercises to work those hamstrings. Your knees will thank you.
Stretching Fact or Fiction?
The correct answer is... Stretching works, and in more ways than one.
As reported in the Georgia Tech Sports Medicine and Performance newsletter, Vol.9 No.1, October 2000, "Continuous stretching during the day, and conducted over a period of time, can promote muscle growth, which in turn could reduce the risk of injury".
But, make sure you are stretching correctly. Before you exercise, perform dynamic stretches that are sports specific, (e.g. arm swings, leg swings, hip and ankle circles). This will warm up your body for the activity you are preparing to do. Then when you are finished exercising, take a few minutes and perform static stretches (i.e. holding one position for 15-30 seconds). This is when you increase your flexibility, so take the time.
Also, stretching post-exercise will help facilitate the recovery process. Stretching is a major component for increasing your athletic performance, so don't skip stretching or your body will get angry.
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Keeping It Level
Consistent blood sugar levels results in better health.
"We hear a lot about the harmful effects of a poor diet on our health. We hear about how it leads to obesity, how it can lead to increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease, and how it can mean overall poor health due to lack of nutrition. Another risk of an unhealthy diet, especially if it includes large quantities of carbohydrates and simple sugars, is what it does to our blood sugar levels.
Blood sugar is, simply enough, the amount of sugar (glucose) we have in our blood. When we eat, our body breaks down food carbohydrates to produce sugars. The sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries it to every cell in the body. Blood sugar fuels the cells, providing them with the energy they need to keep us healthy.
Read the rest of this very good article.
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If you have ideas, comments, letters to share, or questions about particular topics, please email one of the following Section Editors:
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Fears About Fitness
Earlier this spring a group of us in Washington State met to discuss how we could best assess health and fitness to meet the state's new learning requirements. Many professionals here and elsewhere have feared that our contribution to children's education would be reduced to a standardized score on a fitness test.
At our meeting, guest presenters Chuck Corbin, Leslie Lambert, and Thomas McKenzie urged caution with fitness testing and the interpretations of fitness test scores. Some professionals have argued that fitness testing has done more to harm our profession, and turn kids off of healthy lifestyles, than it ever did to motivate them.
Despite these warnings there are still those who mindlessly test their students once every year, and send the incomprehensible results home to parents.
We aren't saying that fitness tests should be eliminated, but it's essential that professionals everywhere consider carefully how to effectively implement fitness into their PE programs. We need to remember that our main goal is to motivate children to become healthy, then stay healthy as adults.
Turning children off of physical activity through testing, or any other form of torturous physical activity, is not the way to do it.
PELINKS4U Staff
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Diet and Exercise Dramatically Delay Type 2 Diabetes
At least 10 million Americans at high risk for type 2 diabetes can sharply lower their chances of getting the disease with diet and exercise, according to the findings of a major clinical trial announced by HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson at the National Institutes of Healt (NIH).
"In view of the rapidly rising rates of obesity and diabetes in America, this good news couldn't come at a better time," said Secretary Thompson. "So many of our health problems can be avoided through diet, exercise, and making sure we take care of ourselves. By promoting healthy lifestyles, we can improve the quality of life for all Americans, and reduce health carecosts dramatically."
Click here for the full article.
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Canada's Physical Activity Guide
Wow! Here is a wonderful resource for promoting physical activity.
Sponsored by the Canadian Government, Canada's "Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living" is a guide to help you make wise choices about physical activity; choices that will improve your health, help prevent disease, and allow you to get the most out of life.
The Guide is in a one-page, easy-to-read format that's available for order on its own, or as a pull-out section in a Handbook that gives you even more information on building physical activity into your daily life.
The Guide provides a rainbow of physical activities that can help you have more energy, move more easily, and get stronger. It tells you how much activity you should strive for, and how to get started.
It also lists the many benefits of physical activity, and the health risks of inactivity. This Handbook provides additional information to help you make the best use of the Guide.
Most of the information from the handbook is posted on this site, but you can download free copies of the guide, or possibly even order free hard copies (not sure how this works if ordering outside of Canada!). Click here for more.
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| Physical Activity in Young People |
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This paper by Russell Pate & John Sirard reviews the research on physical activity in young people, and explores actions that might be taken to help children and youth adopt, and maintain, physically active lifestyles.
Physical inactivity is an independent risk factor for several chronic diseases in adults (coronary heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, hypertension). Low physical activity levels have been identified as contributing to the rising prevalence of obesity and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in young people.
The widespread occurrence of physical inactivity, and its contribution to chronic disease risk, make it a major public health problem in children as well as adults. National surveys indicate that physical activity declines as children become older, whites are typically more active than African-Americans or Hispanics, and boys tend to be more active than girls. Contributing to this decline is an age-related decrease in enrollment in daily physical education.
Many other factors also affect a young person's decision to be physically active, such as personal psychological characteristics, as well as the physical and social environment. Engaging in physical activity is a multifaceted behavior determined by numerous interacting variables, which makes interventions difficult to design and implement. Several school based efforts have produced successful results: children became more physically active during modified physical education.
Although the school is an important place to implement physical activity interventions, future studies should also focus on interventions to promote physical activity in young people in home, health care, and community settings. Click here to read the complete article.
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| Overweight With Much To Lose |
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In a three-part article, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the serious overweight problems American adults are suffering.
Currently, more than 60% of the adult population is overweight, and the issue is becoming one of the country's top public health concerns. Particularly alarming to health officials is the number of Americans who are so overweight that they are considered obese.
Twenty-seven percent of adults have reached that threshold, compared with 15% two decades ago, putting them at higher risk for such health problems as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Almost one third of the population do not exercise at all.
Author Marian Uhlman reports, "The TV remote, the garage-door opener, the computer - these and many more are robbing us of chances to move and burn calories. But that's just half the story, the experts say. Food today is everywhere. Gas stations sell doughnuts; office-supply stores sell candy; cookies are as common in offices as the file cabinets they sit on."
According to Andrew Tershakovec, director of the weight-management program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, "We have switched to an environment where there is the potential to feast every day, and where the opportunities and needs to be physically active have decreased significantly."
The result is fatter people of every age and race; from surgeons to salesmen, and from teachers to truck drivers. To read the complete article click here.
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| Nesquik Fit Kids Challenge |
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Nesquik will be holding its "Fall Fit Kids Challenge" in October for elementary schools around the country, and will award five schools with special celebration parties.
In addition, each child will receive a "Nesquik Fit Kids Challenge" certificate signed with the Bunny's paw print.
For more information contact Deborah Butts, Nesquik Fit Kids Challenge coordinator; (801) 350-2617, or email dbutts@publicis-usa.com
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