Tag: balance

THANK YOU FOR VISITING SWEATSCIENCE.COM!

As of September 2017, new Sweat Science columns are being published at www.outsideonline.com/sweatscience. Check out my bestselling new book on the science of endurance, ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in February 2018 with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell.

- Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience)

***

The Jockology column from a couple of weeks ago discussed the pros and cons of balance training. A Toronto strength coach named Tim Enfield left a comment on the blog yesterday offering a different perspective. Here’s what he wrote:

I noticed that you have an article on unstable training related to athletic performance. I wanted to bring to your attention research on that topic posted on PUBMed, located at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez. I believe this study stands in direct contradiction to what you wrote in your blog, and perhaps the writing was misleading to the average gym goer. Continue reading “Debate! Response to balance training article…”

THANK YOU FOR VISITING SWEATSCIENCE.COM!

As of September 2017, new Sweat Science columns are being published at www.outsideonline.com/sweatscience. Check out my bestselling new book on the science of endurance, ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in February 2018 with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell.

- Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience)

***

This week’s Jockology column (just posted) takes a look at balance training tools:

No gym is complete these days without an assortment of oddly shaped and surprisingly expensive balance-training gadgets. Unlike many fads, this one really does have its roots in solid medical research: Wobble boards earned their stripes decades ago in aiding the rehabilitation of ankle sprains.

The purported benefits of balance training now extend much further, promising injury prevention and the strengthening of countless small stabilizer muscles that would otherwise be left flaccid. For those who play court sports involving lots of running and rapid changes of direction, the benefits are increasingly clear; for the rest of us, the verdict is murkier. (read on…)