Raisins Found To Be As Effective As Sports Chews For Fueling Workouts

 

English: A pile of Sunmaid raisins. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the 25th July 2012 article at Medical News Today

 

New research published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutritionsuggests that eating raisins may provide the same workout boost as sports chews.

Conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis, the study evaluated the effects that natural versus commercialcarbohydrate supplements have on endurance running performance. Runners depleted their glycogen stores in an 80-minute 75% V02 max run followed by a 5k time trial. Runners completed three randomized trials (raisins, chews and water only) separated by seven days. Findings included:

• Those that ingested raisins or sports chews ran their 5k on average one minute faster than those that ingested only water
• Eating raisins and sports chews promoted higher carbohydrate oxidation compared to water only

“Raisins are a great alternative to sport chews as they also provide fiber and micronutrients, such as potassium and iron, and they do not have any added sugar, artificial flavor or colors,” said James Painter, Ph.D., R.D., and nutrition research advisor for the California Raisin Marketing Board. “As an added bonus, raisins are the most economical dried fruit according to the United Stated Department of Agriculture, so they are cost effective and convenient for use during exercise.” 

 

Related articles

• New study: Raisins as effective as sports chews for fueling workouts (eurekalert.org)
• Raisins Provide Workout Boost (personalliberty.com)
• Raisins boost athletic performance: study (thehindu.com)
• Raisins provide workout boost (upi.com)
• New study: Snacking on raisins controls hunger, promotes satiety in children (eurekalert.org)
• Snacking on raisins controls hunger, promotes satiety in children (scienceblog.com)

 

Runners Can Improve Health and Performance With Less Training, Study Shows

Not a runner myself (lucky if I can jog 30 minutes some days!).
But thought this might be of interest to some of you…

From the 30 May 2012 article at ScienceDaily

The new 10-20-30 training concept can improve both a person’s running performance and health, despite a significant reduction in the total amount of training. This is the conclusion of a study from University of Copenhagen researchers just published in the scientific Journal of Applied of Physiology.

Over the course of seven weeks, runners were able to improve performance on a 1500-metre run by 23 seconds and almost by a minute on a 5-km run — and this despite a 50 per cent reduction in their total amount of training. These are just some of the results from a research project involving 18 moderately trained runners following the 10-20-30 training concept developed by researchers from the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.

In addition to enhancing running performance, the runners from the project also had a significant decrease in blood pressure and a reduction in cholesterol in the blood.

“We were very surprised to see such an improvement in the health profile considering that the participants have been running for several years,” says Professor Jens Bangsbo, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, who heads the project.

“The results show that the very intense training has a great potential for improving health status of already trained individuals,” says Professor Bangsbo….

Related articles

• New research shows runners can improve health and performance with less training (eurekalert.org)
• New research shows runners can improve health and performance with less training (scienceblog.com)
• New 10-20-30 Training method for Professional Runners Works Wonders, According to Experts. (naturenplanet.com)
• New research shows runners can improve health and performance with less training (medicalxpress.com)
• Avoiding an Injury When Training for a Marathon (massageenvy.com)
• Heavier Runners Less Likely to Get Injured?: Marathon Study Shows that Higher BMI Is Not Linked to Increased Risk of Lower Extremity Injury (runblogger.com)

Too Many Athletes Warming Up Wrong Says Australilan Sports Scientist

From the Gallery of the South Dorset Giants 

From the 15 December Media Release of Victoria University, Melbourne Australia

Do you know the difference between static stretching and dynamic warm-ups? Did you know that doing the wrong one of those two can decrease subsequent athletic performance while doing the right one can increase it? If your answer is yes then perhaps you are not one of the athletes that James Zois from the School of Sport & Exercise Science at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia is referring to when he says athletes are warming up wrong.

Earlier this month, Zois talked to the press about the research he is doing on the effect of pre-competition static stretches and dynamic warm-ups on athletes’ jumping performance.

He found that static stretching decreased jumping performance by nearly 8%, while dynamic warm-ups increased athletes’ vertical jump by 3%.

Static stretching includes things like calf, quad and hip flex stretches. Dynamic warm-ups are range of motion activities such as high knee raises, leg swings and run-throughs, or physical tasks that involve change of direction.

Zois said too many athletes are over-using static stretches as pre-competition warm-ups, and this can be counter-productive. Over-using them just reduces your performance power….

Read entire news article

Related Resources

• Dynamic Warm Up – a “how to” PDF with illustrations at a private soccer club site
• Using Dynamic Warm–Up Exercises instead of. Traditional Warm-Up routines. – a somewhat more detailed PDF adapted from materials at sports-coach.net
• Before You Run: The Dynamic Warm-Up -concise article written by a professional athlete and endurance performance specialist, great links to videos for each of the warm-up elements
• Elite Core and Dynamic Warm-Ups: A Comprehensive Guide – written by a marathon runner and running coach

Related articles

• Too Many Athletes Warming Up Wrong Says Australilan Sports Scientist (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Research cool on benefit of warm-up stretches (theage.com.au)
• Warming Up (bruteforcegrl.com)
• New Ideas on Proper Stretching Techniques (webmd.com)
• Student Athletes – warming up is important (backrubscom.wordpress.com)
• The Truth About Stretching…Again (blogcritics.org)
• Smart Guide to 2012: How to win at the Olympics (newscientist.com)
• Warming Up (bruteforcegrl.wordpress.com)
• Conditioning Pt 2 – Warm-ups & Cool-downs (littlebrowndogblog.wordpress.com)
• Static Stretching: Its Effect on Performance (robinluthi.com)