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.

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Exercise & Heart Rate Experiments

If you and your child are searching for a good experiment for your local school district science fair and you’ve never done one before, don’t panic -- there are many experiments you can choose from.

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How to Determine Foot Pronation

Pronation happens when your foot rolls toward the inside and flattens while walking or running. Some pronation is normal, but too much pronation can bring about foot, knee, ankle and hip injuries.

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Woman training with weights on legs in gym

Homemade Leg Weights

When you're on a budget, but want the extra resistance that leg weights provide — improvise! Leg weights make your workout more challenging, especially if you're doing floor exercises, like side leg lifts. The leg weights you buy in stores or online range from 1 to 20 pounds.

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Women doing shoulder press with kettlebells

Do Shoulder Presses Hurt Your Back?

Shoulder presses are considered an effective exercise when it comes to improving shoulder strength and size. The shoulder press is a structural exercise, meaning it places stress on your spine because you maintain an erect position with your torso as you perform it.

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The Relation Between Height and Shoe Size in Adolescents

It’s fun to use formulas to predict your teen’s height – as long as you take such predictions with a grain of salt. Shoe size generally is proportional to height, so it’s used in many height-predicting formulations. Such formulations sometimes take the parents’ height into account, as well.

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Triathlete on a bicycle

Triathlon Bike Frame Size

Triathlon-specific, road and time-trial bikes are the most common options when it comes to purchasing a bike for a triathlon. Determining what type of bike you want to ride is only the first step, however.

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Skydiving Santas Launch New Experiences Website

The Size of Skydiving Parachutes

Skydiving is an equipment-intensive sport. You need a jumpsuit, helmet and -- of course -- a parachute. The canopy size of a skydiving parachute will largely determine how fast you descend once you jump from the airplane. In general, the larger the canopy, the slower you'll descend and the softer your landing will be.

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Male instructor training woman with dumbbells

Drinking Alcohol After Lifting Weights

The reasons for avoiding alcoholic drinks during weight-lifting are obvious. Alcohol can impair your coordination and interfere with your muscle gains. What you may not know, however, is that drinking alcohol right after lifting weights can be just as damaging to your efforts.

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Bike details

Why Does My Bike Chain Keep Loosening Up?

A loose chain will ruin your ride at best and pose a safety issue at worst. If your bike chain keeps loosening up, you need to find the cause of the problem and address it before riding again. The cause may differ from bike to bike because the mechanics vary.

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How to Wear a Number for a Triathlon

You are required to display your race number at all times during a triathlon. Failing to properly display your race number can cost you a variable time penalty. This penalty can add two to 18 minutes to your time, depending on the length of your race and the number of offenses. Penalty times are cumulative.

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athlete on the starting blocks

What Are the Best Shoes to Help With Running Hip Pain?

One of the most common causes of hip pain when running is iliotibial band, or IT band, syndrome. The IT band consists of a tough group of fibers that run from your hip to below your knee. Overpronation raises your risk for this syndrome. This occurs when your feet roll in too far after striking the ground as you run.

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young sports woman running up on stone stairs

Clicking in Knee While Running

If your knee clicks as you run, you may have one of several conditions. These include iliotibial band syndrome, a meniscal injury or plica syndrome. Syndromes that lead to knee clicking often are often relatively easy to treat, though you may need to quit or scale back your running during the process.

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A Pound of Fat Vs. a Pound of Muscle

When it comes to a pound of muscle versus a pound of body fat, gym myths abound. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it burns more calories when you are at rest, but the level of this activity often is overstated. Another common statement, that 1 lb. muscle weighs more than 1 lb.

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triathlon

Tips for Your First Duathlon

A duathlon is a run-bike-run event that offers a good way to join the multisport movement. These typically range in distance from a 2-mile run, a 10-mile bike and a 2-mile run to a 6.3-mile run, a 37.3-mile bike and a 6.3-mile run.

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Male fitness instructor training senior woman in gym, smiling

How to Build Up Brachialis Muscles

People who are seeking “big guns” want to make sure to train the brachialis muscles. When properly developed, the brachialis muscles help the biceps appear bigger, especially the lower portion of the biceps.

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Mid-adult woman posing with volleyball on beach

Volleyball Serving Rules

The serve is vital in the game of volleyball. The server hits the ball over the net to the opponent, and the rally goes until the ball is not returned properly, grounded on the court or goes “out,” advises the Federation Internationale De Volleyball.

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Portrait of little league teams

ASA 12U Softball Rules

The Amateur Softball Association -- ASA -- sets rules and regulations for softball. Also known as the Junior Olympic program, the ASA’s youth division is one of the country’s largest kids’ sports organizations. Governing men's and women's softball, ASA rules are modified to accommodate players’ ages.

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Young man sleeping in bed, overhead view

Does Your Heart Rate Increase When You Dream?

If you are wondering whether your heart rate went up while you had that crazy dream last night, the simple answer is yes. In fact, whether you have a good dream or a bad dream, your heart and breathing rate always increase during a dream cycle.

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Soccer Game

Rules of Speedball

Speedball is a game played with two 11-player teams, each of which attempt to advance a soccer ball down a field to score at a goal line. Players kick the ball -- as in soccer, throw and catch the ball -- as in basketball, and punt and pass -- as in football.

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