Sports & Fitness: Performance Training, Rules & Recovery

Elite athletic performance and general fitness are sustained through structured hypertrophy strategies, sport-specific conditioning, and rigorous adherence to injury prevention protocols.

Fit woman doing the butterfly stretch in exercise room

My Inner Thigh Muscles Hurt & I Can Barely Walk After Exercising

Though exercise is good for your body, if you exercise too strenuously or do it without a proper warm-up or cool down, you could be setting yourself up for pain afterward. Post-workout muscle pain is typically caused by microscopic tears in your muscle fibers.

Read more →
Weight bench in gym

What Is Considered a Good Bench Press Weight in High School?

The bench press is an easy-to-perform exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine has standardized norms for what a typical high school student should be able to perform; furthermore, this information is segmented between genders so that you can compare males to males and females to females.

Read more →
Woman with Personal Trainer in Gym

Should I Lift if I'm Sore?

After a long hiatus from the gym, post-exercise muscle soreness may be the price you are willing to pay to get back in shape, knowing that the pain will subside after a few days.

Read more →
tourist woman on the top of mount,

Why Do I Get Tired Faster in High Altitudes?

If you get tired faster in high altitudes, it could come simply from having less oxygen to breathe; or, you may be experiencing altitude sickness, which is also known as acute mountain sickness.

Read more →
Close up of woman stretching

What Does It Mean If I Feel Like Throwing Up After a Workout?

Working out is healthy, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommending 75 to150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week and twice-weekly strength-training sessions. You might feel like throwing up after a workout, depending on what you do and how hard you exert yourself.

Read more →
Woman Lifting Weights

How to Get Upper Arm Strength Fast

Strong upper arm muscles make daily tasks easier with the added benefit of toned deltoids, biceps and triceps from all the training. Your progress in strength training can be achieved and measured with weights at the gym, but you can also do exercises at home to quickly strengthen your arms.

Read more →
Four people stretching in aerobics class

How to Lose Arm Muscle

Large arm muscles can be the result of heavy participation in exercise or sports -- including basketball, baseball and swimming.

Read more →
Man exercising with dumbbells at a gym, horizontal shot

Alternating Vs. Standing Dumbbell Curls

A dumbbell curl targets your biceps, the muscles on the front of your upper arms. There are many versions of a dumbbell curl, including alternating and standing, which are not mutually exclusive, since an alternating dumbbell curl can be done standing.

Read more →
Female athlete stretching, studio shot

Activities For Flexibility

Building muscle and burning fat are both essential factors to creating a fit, healthy body, but flexibility is just as important. To maintain proper fitness, take part in different activities that help to stretch and lengthen your muscles.

Read more →
Diverse group of children in gym with coach

Why Is Gym Class Important?

You probably did not know it then, but the gym classes you took during your school years influenced the person you became. If you had well-taught stimulating classes in the gymnasium, you learned valuable physical skills, set a pattern for lifelong fitness and grew socially from your experiences.

Read more →
Exercising On A Treadmill

Lengthening Exercises for Big Calves

Ask any bodybuilder and they will tell you that calves are one of the few body parts that do not respond well to exercise, regardless of how hard you train them. Some people are blessed with great aesthetic calf muscles, and some are stuck with calves they'd rather not put on display.

Read more →
skier on an untouched ski track

Sore Calves From Ski Boots

The calf pain associated with stiff ski boots is enough to make you consider snowboarding. Fortunately, the pain-killing endorphins produced while soaring downhill at exhilarating speeds usually override the pain.

Read more →

Supplements to Lower Heart Rate

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in one minute when you are at rest. If you have an arrhythmia, a disorder of your heart rate or rhythm, you may experience tachycardia, notes the National Center for Biotechnology Information, or a heart that beats too quickly.

Read more →
"Young man swinging golf club, rear view"

Loose Wrists & Hands for a Golf Swing

The proper use and tension of the hands and wrists during the golf swing confounds many a player. Though your instincts may tell you that maintaining a tight grip on the club with firm wrists is necessary to generate a powerful swing, the opposite is true.

Read more →

What to Eat the Night Before a Final Exam

Studying for final exams can be stressful and keep you up nights. But don't comfort yourself with high-fat, high-sugar foods like pizza or candy the night before a test. Instead, choose foods that can help increase your brain circulation, enhance your memory and improve your concentration on the day of your test.

Read more →
Bottle of blue liquid soap and spa stones

Why Do I Smell So Bad When I Work Out?

Many people who love working out hate to do so in a gym full of people. It is not shyness that prevents them from engaging in aerobic classes or running on the treadmill along side other exercise enthusiasts. Instead, it is fear of smelling offensive. The smell is produced by bacteria multiplying on sweaty skin.

Read more →
Exercise equipment

What Size Dumbbells Should I Use?

When it comes to weight training, there is no one size that fits all. The best weight for your dumbbells depends primarily on your fitness goals and your previous experience with weight training.

Read more →
woman running up at mountain stairs

The Muscles Worked During Calf Raises

The calf raise exercise targets the muscles on the back of your lower legs that facilitate plantar flexion, or ankle extension. These muscles contract to lift your heels off the floor during the upward-movement phase of the exercise, and to control the speed of movement during the downward movement phase.

Read more →