Athletic Lab

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Stephanie Shaw, an Exercise Science student from ECU]

Train, train, and train some more. This seems to be the motto these days for many elite athletes. It is easy to become consumed by your sport and think you have to train hard all day everyday, but when does your body have time to recover? Not enough people think about how important sleeping is for their body to be able to heal and perform at peak performance.

Having the optimal amount of sleep is very beneficial for performance, because your body naturally releases Human Growth Hormone (HGH) when in a deep sleep. HGH helps with not only metabolizing fat, but also with recovery and healing of the body. If you train all day every day without sufficient amounts of sleep, then your body will not recover and heal. If your body does not have enough time to heal, then training will not be nearly as beneficial, and you could also run the risk of hurting yourself and overtraining.

A study performed on 11 healthy athletes from the men’s basketball team at Stanford University showed that after increasing the amount of sleep of each athlete by around 110.9 minutes a night, their overall ratings of physical and mental well-being improved. Their speed during 282-foot sprints also improved from 16.2 seconds to 15.5 seconds and their shooting accuracy by 9% on free throws and three-point field goals.

Here are a few tips on how to help improve your sleep:

• Have the room completely dark (or as dark as possible) when going to bed.
• Try and have a regular sleeping schedule.
• Clear your head before going to bed. Write down any thoughts or things you have to do the next day.
• Avoid drinking any caffeinated beverages or alcohol before going to bed.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, John Grace]

Beta alanine, unlike creatine, is a lesser known supplement in the fitness world, but becoming more popular.  Beta alanine is on the verge of becoming as well known as creatine for its performance benefits.  While creatine boasts its ability to create a higher power output in subjects, beta alanine not only helps with strength and power, but also increases muscular endurance. 

Beta alanine has been getting praise for its ability to stabilize pH levels and act as a lactic acid buffer, but it is really carnosine that makes beta alanine look like a star. So what is carnosine? During exercise, hydrogen ions (H+) are released, causing performance to plummet.  When our body accumulates a large amount of H+ ions, our muscles pH levels drop, or becomes more acidic (the burning sensation in muscles).  Carnosine helps stabilize muscle pH by soaking up these H+ ions that are released at an accelerated rate during exercise.
I know the next question that you may be asking. Why not just take carnosine instead of beta alanine? Carnosine actually gets broken down in the GI tract into beta alanine, while some is also escaping.  Beta alanine then has to get converted back into carnosine. In this conversion process, you lose a substantial amount of the initial carnosine you have just ingested. From a financial standpoint, it is much more effective to purchase beta alanine.

Like creatine, beta alanine has very generalized dosing across all products and manufactures.  In a study done by “Nutrition Research” in 2008, 4.5 grams per day of beta alanine supplementation proved “higher training volumes and lower subjective feelings of fatigue”. 

Ingesting beta alanine may cause a prickly feeling on the skin.  Don’t worry, this is normal.  It is caused by the beta alanine binding with nerve receptors, activating them and causing them to fire.  Beta alanine, by no means replaces creatine, but it is the ultimate 1-2 punch to be taken with creatine to benefit strength and power, as well as, muscular endurance.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Matthew Jessee, an Exercise Science student from Appalachian State University]

Have you ever wondered why a kangaroo hops? They are utilizing the elasticity of the tendons in their legs. This allows them to not only jump higher and cover long distances quickly, but they are able to do this without expending very much energy which is critical when living in harsh conditions. They do this using the powerful tendons in their legs. Humans might not be able to jump 20 feet in a single bound nor run at speeds at 40mph, but we can utilize the same principles to enhance performance.

The basic anatomy of skeletal muscle has a tendon attached to either side of the muscle which connects both ends to different bones. When the skeletal muscle contracts (or shortens) it brings the bones closer together decreasing or increasing a joint angle. These muscles and tendons have elastic properties similar to a rubber band. Imagine taking a rubber band and stretching it far apart, then letting it snap back. There are three phases to the stretch-shortening cycle. We will use a vertical jump to discuss these phases.

The first is the eccentric phase, or the countermovement. This simply means you are stretching the involved muscles and tendons. In the vertical jump this would be squatting down before jumping upward. Think of the rubber band the further you stretch these muscles and tendons the more energy you are storing to jump higher in the concentric phase. During this stretch you are pulling on specialized muscle fibers called muscle spindles that detect tension in the muscle. When a stretch in the muscle is detected it activates a reflex which causes the muscle to contract with a large amount of force.

The concentric phase is the contraction of the muscles required to perform the movement; in this case a vertical jump. During this movement not only are the muscles shortening to produce the movement but the tendons after being stretched are returning to their normal length; this adds a lot of extra force to your upward movement compared to just using muscle contraction alone. Remember during this phase the muscles will contract stronger than usual due to the muscle spindles.

The key to harnessing this elastic energy is the amortization phase. The amortization phase is the phase between the eccentric, and concentric phase of the stretch-shortening cycle. Unlike the rubber band our body takes energy to keep the muscles and tendons under tension. If we are in the bottom part of our jump too long most of our elastic energy will be lost as heat, we will lose force and usable energy, resulting in a lower vertical jump. The amortization phase should be as short as possible to harness as much energy as possible. So we should jump vertically as soon as we finish our countermovement. The less time between squatting down and jumping upward the higher our jump will be. Try experimenting with this. First squat down into jumping position and hold for about 5 seconds (the stored elastic energy will be released as heat) then jump. Next try squatting down quickly and immediately jumping as soon as you reach the bottom of your squat. Which jump was higher?

Now that we understand the basics of the stretch-shortening cycle we should train our body to utilize it effectively. One way to do this is to utilize plyometric training within a program. Plyometrics utilize various jumps, throws, and hops performed with countermovement in a quick, powerful manner. This type of training allows one to become more efficient at producing power which is a vital component to many different sports and activities.

Ever wonder why you feel fine right after your workout but you get progressively more sore in the 24-48 hours following. This nice guest blog will tell you what’s happening.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Anthony Williams, an Exercise Science student from NCCU]

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) can be described as muscle pain, soreness, or stiffness that presents itself within the body after a day or two after exercise. Most of the time DOMS occurs when you begin a new exercise program, change your routine, or increase your intensity when you exercise. Some people new to exercise are not aware of DOMS, but actually it’s a normal process to a new exercise. This also enables your body to adapt and help lead to greater strength, gains and stamina as your muscles recover.
Studies indicate that DOMS is related to microscopic tearing of the muscle fibers and the amount of tearing relates to how hard and how long you exercise. Basically any movement you are not accustomed to can lead to DOMS. It’s been shown that eccentric muscle contractions or movements that contract muscles while they lengthen can cause the most soreness. An example would be downward motion when lowering the weight on a bicep curl, or the downward motion of squats and push-ups. At the present time, there is no known way to treat DOMS however ice and anti-inflammatory medications may reduce discomfort.

Athletic Lab hosted its first Olympic weightlifting meet on January 28th. Forty competitors from around the Southeast competed in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk. The meet was sanctioned by USA Weightlifting and several athletes posted nationally competitive marks in their respective age and weight classes. Athletic Lab’s Mike Young won top male lifter.

This Saturday (January 28th), Athletic Lab is hosting our first Olympic Weightlifting competition. As a result, all Saturday classes will be cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you are interested in watching the competition admission is free. To make up for the lost classes, we will be holding a CF / Performance Fitness class on Sunday at 2pm. No reservation is required.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Sarah Gilmore, an Exercise Science student from UNC]

Stretching: It’s not a new concept and the majority of exercisers could list at least a few simple stretches without any trouble. Despite the pervasive knowledge of what stretching is there still exist many questions about its effects. Does stretching reduce post-exercise muscle soreness? Does it prevent injuries? Does stretching improve performance? Does it actually do anything at all? Stretching is a heavily debated topic among exercise specialists. It seems that everyone has their own idea as to what kind, how long and if it should be performed at all but what does the research actually say about stretching’s effects?

Recent studies have been supporting people’s notions that stretching may not yield all of the claimed results. A study of 77 individuals in 2002 performed by Dr. Robert Herbert found that on average there was only a 2mm reduction in muscle soreness on a 100mm scale, a negligible difference in most athletes’ minds. This same study also found that reduction in injury hazard was a mere 5% among participants. On the other hand, when it comes to performance improvement, studies such as one published in the 2006 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research have found dynamic stretching warm-ups to improve performance on a variety of power output and agility tests. Interestingly, those same studies have revealed that static warm-ups actually decrease strength and power output slightly. Based on these conclusions, there is a need for reconsideration of the pre-exercise static stretching routines that are commonplace in many exercise settings. Performance improvement is a goal of most exercisers so even though stretching warm-ups do not appear to reduce the soreness or risk of injury during exercise, a dynamic stretching routine should be included to maximize workout results.

For the individuals whose workouts are not based upon performance results it is worth noting the numerous emerging studies that cite stretching as a source of stress relief. Yoga studios and group yoga classes have grown significantly in popularity during recent years as participants consistently rave about its relaxing effects. While buying a yoga mat and signing up for the next available class is not for everyone, there is still hope for stress relief. Finding a little bit of time during the day, maybe just a few additional stretches at the end of your workout, could help alleviate that built up tension from a day full of screaming kids and frustrating co-workers.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Drake Webster, an Exercise Science student from ECU]

How many kids today do you know that their favorite sport is track? Or how about kids that actually run track in the first place? Me either. Youth sports are dominated by football, soccer, basketball, baseball and more of the traditionally major sports. The problem with this is that most people stick with a sport they are good at or have played for awhile. So speed development gets pushed aside because of its association with track and field. Most would say that they have no interest in track because they are either busy with other sports or they find it less fun. Now a days there is a lot of sport specific training for every sport which is important, but it some times comes at the neglect of true speed work. If you think about what track actually consists of you will realize it’s the same basis of all sports. Running, jumping, and technique are the main aspects of track and every athlete knows that these are also the main aspects of every sport. The difference is when coaches begin to get away from these aspects and only focus on other sport specific skills. These sport specific skills are needed to learn how to play the game but coaches should not take out the basis of the sport itself. Track speed involves working on running mechanics, jumping mechanics and speed work. These things are often forgotten about when training for a sport. If you are one of those athletes that are trying to compete at the highest level but haven’t reached it, try adding track workouts to your training and get back to the basics of your sport. If you learn how to run better, jump higher and also get faster, you will be that much better at your sport.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Matthew Jessee, an Exercise Science student from Appalachian State University]

According to the Center for Disease Control 1 out of every 3 Americans suffers from
hypertension. Healthy blood pressure levels are less than 120mmHg systolic/ 80mmHg
diastolic. Hypertension is a chronic elevated blood pressure in the arteries. Arteries are
important because they supply blood from the heart to different areas of the body so it can
maintain vital functions necessary for good health. This process becomes less efficient in
those suffering from hypertension. The heart winds up having to work harder to get blood to
the working systems of the body. Chronic high blood pressure can lead to an enlarged heart,
aneurysms, vision problems, and even heart attacks.

There are medications that treat high blood pressure. Like other medications they can be
very expensive, and a pain to take. Exercise is another way to treat hypertension. Acute
physical activity has been shown to reduce blood pressures immediately after, and for a
prolonged period following exercise. This phenomenon is known as post-exercise hypotension;
hypotension meaning low arterial blood pressure. During exercise the nervous system is
responsible for contracting and dilating blood vessels in order to direct blood flow to the
working muscles. After activity, the arteries stay dilated which allows the blood to flow easier.
This doesn’t require the heart to work as hard during this time. Long term exercise can help
to permanently reduce blood pressure. As you become more trained the body becomes more
efficient in these cardiovascular processes. In the end, regular physical activity is an inexpensive
way to treat the causes of hypertension rather than just the symptoms.

[This is a guest blog by one of our Athletic Interns, Stephanie Shaw, an Exercise Science student from ECU]

You have been recruited to play at the collegiate level. The National Letter of Intent is signed or
going to be signed within the next month. Your technical skills for the sport are worthy so now you are
ready to play in college, right?

What many athletes, especially females, forget about when coming into college is the strength
and conditioning aspect of the sport. The competition in college is very different than in club or
high school athletics. Think about it, the team you are about to go play for is not only practicing but also
going through strength and conditioning training with a strength coach all spring. Why should you be
doing any different? This means it is very important to be prepared before going in especially for fall
season sports. Teams that compete in the fall such as football, soccer, and volleyball have only a week
or two of training with the team before being thrown into the season.

Coming into college strong and developed will help with injury prevention. I play on the East
Carolina Women’s Soccer team, and our coach always says that if an incoming freshman can make it
through the first fall without injury, their chance for injury for the remainder of their career is
significantly reduced. Why not decrease that risk even more by starting to work on your speed, strength,
and conditioning and agility right now. I tore my ACL freshman year and believe if I was better prepared
coming in it would have reduced the risk of tearing it.