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.

Hammers

Will My Arms Get Bigger Swinging a Sledgehammer?

A sledgehammer is often used to break thick items, such as concrete, but it can also be used as a strength-training tool. Fitness classes are incorporating sledgehammers and tractor tires into a workout designed to improve strength and power while increasing muscle mass.

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Bottles of water

Can I Use Water Bottles as Dumbbells?

If you don't have dumbbells but want to do more than bodyweight exercises such as pushups, situps, and pullups, by all means use a water bottle for a strength-training workout. Recycle your drinking water bottle and turn it into a strength-training tool for your home or outdoor workout.

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young Japanese woman doing exercise with fitness ball

How to Make Pushups Easier

If you and pushups have a love-hate relationship, get on your knees as a way to make this exercise easier. You can't expect to able to drop and do 20 pushups if you're new to exercise, or if it's been a while since your last workout.

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Caribbean Sunset

How to Swim in the Ocean at Night

Swimming in the ocean at night might be on your to-do list and can be accomplished if you follow safety swimming guidelines. Not all beaches are open to nighttime swimming.

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Shoulders Cable Lateral Raise Exercise

How to Strengthen Periscapular Muscles

Your shoulder joint allows your arm to move or hold still. The periscapular muscles lend strength to your shoulder during movements and help stabilize your shoulder when still. The scapula, your shoulder blade, also moves during shoulder joint movement.

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Woman with calculator and laptop

How to Convert Pedometer Steps to Kilometers

Your pedometer is a helpful tool for increasing your physical activity. Wearing your pedometer daily will motivate you to increase the number of steps you take. You may find yourself parking further away from the entrance to stores in order to reach your daily steps goal.

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running woman

My Ears Pop When I Exercise Hard

Intense exercise is good for you. It strengthens your muscles, endurance and will. If ear popping accompanies your intense exercise, you may need a change in workout technique. Typically a simple change in ear pressure, ear popping is not a life-threatening condition, just an uncomfortable one.

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Woman exercising with ball in forest

Rectus Abdominis Exercises

Your abdominal muscles support your body as you move throughout the day. The rectus abdominis is also referred to as the "six pack." This muscle responds to exercise with improved strength and you can perform stomach strengthening exercises on a daily basis.

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Man massaging shoulder, mid section

How to Reduce Soreness After Lifting Weights

Since there is no guaranteed way to eliminate muscle soreness after lifting weights, the best approach is a preventive plan. While it is common to expect some muscle soreness after lifting weights, you can reduce the occurrence by adjusting your lifting routine.

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Runner athlete running on forest trail.

How to Increase Speed in Cross Country Running

Cross country is an endurance sport. This type of running is aerobic, which means that your muscles are receiving an adequate amount of oxygen to continue a long run. You can test whether or not your are running aerobically by maintaining a conversation during your run.

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Weight, fit, fitness

Exercises for Teres Minor Muscles

You probably are not aware of your teres minor muscle until you experience shoulder pain. The teres minor is one of the muscles that makes up the area known as the rotator cuff. You need the teres minor for overhead throwing motions and to externally rotate your arm.

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Gym seated leg press machine blond man workout

Can You Work Out Legs and Shoulders in One Day?

Strength training requires the use of resistance to tear down your muscles and rest to repair your muscles. This process of breaking down and rebuilding leads to improvements in your muscle's strength, tone and endurance.

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Strength & Conditioning for the Breastroke

When you are swimming the breaststroke, water provides resistance — but it's a level of resistance you cannot change. You can't make water thicker or thinner, so once your muscles adapt to the breaststroke, the improvement you are likely to see in the strength of your muscles is limited.

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Fit swimmer touching his back by the pool

Pelvic & Low Back Pain After Stomach Exercises

When you perform abdominal exercises, you expect your abs to be sore from the workout. This type of discomfort is a gentle reminder that you have challenged your muscles to respond. Some people feel pain in their lower back or pelvic areas after participating in core-strengthening exercises.

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Are Too Many Push-Ups Bad for You?

Proper pushups will strengthen your upper body and your core, but too many pushups can provide more harm than benefits. Even if you have gradually increased your number of pushups and do not feel muscle soreness, you are breaking down muscle fibers during the exercise and require recovery.

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Father and son (4-5) exercising with skipping rope in house

The Best Shoes for Jumping Rope

Jumping rope is a high-impact exercise that improves your cardiovascular endurance. Your hand and foot coordination also increases as you time your jumps to match your swings. These jumps need a stable base and that begins with your feet.

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Kids practicing soccer

Length of a Youth Soccer Game

The U.S. Youth Soccer organization is a nonprofit agency that uses the sport of soccer to ignite a youth's physical, emotional and mental growth. The American Youth Soccer Organization provides youth soccer programs in a fun, family environment.

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Two men in park, one doing push-ups other squatting and watching

Whole Body Vibration Machine Workouts

The thought of exercising on a vibrating platform may have you imagining the black and white films of jiggling mid-sections of stationary participants. Although true in years past, the new whole-body vibration machines offer a different type of exercise.

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group of people exercising with bars in gym

What Is Lean Body Tissue?

Seeing that dreaded three-digit number on the bathroom scale can often make or break your day. Unfortunately, that number does not break down into how much of your weight is healthy and the amount that is potentially unhealthy. The healthy, necessary weight reflects your lean body tissue.

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