Cool It, Buddy! (Topic: Post-Exercise Ice Bath Recovery)

You’ve just finished your run for the day. If you’re sore and exhausted, the last thing on your mind is tomorrow’s run. What can you do to make working out day after day easier on your legs? The answer is proper recovery! This blog post deals with one way to recover after a run: ice baths.

While it may be tempting to jump in a hot tub or soak your legs in hot water after activities, ice water is a better solution. Sure, hot tubs are relaxing, but they do not aid in recovery.

“The theory behind ice baths is related to the fact that intense exercise actually causes microtrauma, or tiny tears in muscle fibers. This muscle damage not only stimulates muscle cell activity and helps repair the damage and strengthen the muscles (muscle hypertrophy), but it is also linked with delayed onset muscle pain and soreness (DOMS), which occurs between 24 and 72 hours after exercise.” - http://sharkfitness.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/after-exercise-ice-bath-recovery/

With the ice bath, blood vessels become constricted (or shrink) and waste products such as lactic acid are flushed from the muscles. Ice baths are also great for reducing any swelling in the joints or muscle tissue. The benefits continue after you are out of the ice bath. As your body re-warms, the blood circulation speeds up and healing speeds as well.

How cold should the ice bath be? “In general, water temperatures should be between 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit and immersion time should range from 10 to 20 minutes. Among top runners, I see ice bath techniques that vary within and on either side of these ranges.” (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-285--12810-0,00.html) Some people choose to immerse themselves in the bath tub so their legs are completely underwater and up to the top of the hips, leaving only the upper body out of the water. Depending on where the soreness is located, it is fine to submerge your legs to above the knee caps. Some friendly advice would be to slowly become acquainted with the water temperature before just jumping right in!

Scientific testing has not shown evidence to support that ice baths truly speed recovery or help soreness. However, it can be said that ice baths certainly do not hurt the recovery process. In fact, most runners and athletes will speak in favor of icing.

Submitted by Chris Heezen, HAPLab Intern 2009

Topic:The Importance of Cardiorespiratory Exercise

+What is Cardiorespiratory Fitness?

-The ability to deliver and use oxygen under the demands of intensive, prolonged exercise or work.

Any activity that involves large muscle groups and is sustained for prolonged periods of time has the potential to increase cardiorespiratory fitness. Examples: aerobics, bicycling, cross-country skiing, dancing (in various forms), jogging/running, roller blading, rowing, speed skating, stair climbing or stepping, swimming, hiking, and walking.

Other names associated with cardiorespiratory exercise: aerobic endurance training.

Benefits of Cardiorespiratory Exercise:
-Enhanced central (adaptations that occur in the heart and contribute to an increased ability to deliver oxygen) and peripheral (adaptations that occur in the vasculature or the muscles that contribute to an increased ability to extract oxygen) cardiorespiratory functioning
-increase in functional capacity (also shown as an increase in VO2max)
-increase in ventricular filling and high stroke volume and cardiac output
-increase in coronary vascular bed size (thus, greater ability to provide the myocardium or muscle of the heart with more O2 rich blood)
-increase in blood volume (due to an expansion of plasma volume)
-decrease in resting heart rate
-decrease in TPR (total peripheral resistance) at maximal exercise
-increase in active muscle blood flow during maximal exercise
To name a few...

Good news for men and women alike: evidence suggests that there is no difference between gender in central and peripheral adaptations to aerobic endurance training!

Take-Home Message:
3 to 5 days a week of 20 to 60 minutes worth of cardiorespiratory exercise over the course of a few months to a year will certainly allow you to demonstrate many if not all of the aforementioned benefits. Reasons to not exercise in some form or fashion (of which good examples of how to get aerobic exercise are listed above!!) is certainly to submit to premature death and/or health complications now or later in life.

The only excuse is the one you make up!

Treat yourself to some lovely Gunny weather of sunshine, blue skies, and warm temperatures. Your heart and other related body systems will thank you! Till next time...

Submitted by Al Smith, HAPLab Manager

Topic: The Importance of a Warm-Up & Cool-Down (and the science of why)

What defines a Warm-Up?
+ A warm-up prepares the body for activity by elevating the body temperature.

The best type of warm-up is specific to the activity that will follow and also individualized as to not produce fatigue. In addition, we know that a warm-up is important to the ligaments and tendons of the body as to allow a greater compliance of movement after heat and mobility are introduced into such areas.

Cardiovascularly speaking, a warm-up allows the body to adjust to the demands of exercise. At rest, the skeletal muscles receive ~15-20% of blood pumped from the heart; during moderate exercise they receive ~70% of cardiac output. This increased blood flow is important in warming the body since the blood carries heat from active muscles to the rest of the body.

A warm-up of between 5 and 10 minutes should precede any bout of exercise regardless of how intense or mundane. For many activities, the warm-up simply continues into the aerobic portion of the exercise session. For example, starting off walking at a comfortable pace for 5-10 minutes before starting to jog or run (science of why - read on).

Further benefits of a warm-up to the cardiovascular system:
-Increases blood flow to active skeletal muscle
-Increases blood flow to the myocardium (muscle of the heart)
-Increases the dissociation of oxyhemoglobin (oxygen separated from its hemoglobin carriers in the blood, therefore more oxygen available for working muscles)
-Leads to earlier sweating, which plays a role in thermoregulation (maintaining a homeostatic body temperature)
-May reduce the incidence of abnormal heart rhythms (dysrhythmias), which can lead to abnormal heart function

Generalizations of benefits of a warm-up metabolically speaking:
-Elevated body temperature (muscle temperature) increases the rate at which the metabolic processes in the cell can proceed
-Oxygen is more readily released from red blood cells and transported into the mitochondria (site of aerobic energy production) at elevated temperatures
-Greater availability of oxygen to the muscles during work; which when more oxygen is available sooner, less reliance is placed on anaerobic metabolism, and thus less lactate accumulates at any given heavy workload. Lighter endurance workloads early on in the exercise session (aka a warm-up) utilize more fats for the production of energy, sparing carbohydrates and extending the time a given high-intensity effort can be continued.


What defines a Cool-Down?
+ A cool-down allows for a gradual return to normal body temperature.

The cool-down period should follow the conditioning period of the exercise session. The primary cardiovascular advantage to a cool-down period is that it prevents venous pooling (accumulation of blood in the veins of the extremities, namely the legs and feet), and thus reduces the risk of fainting by keeping the skeletal muscle pump (from the lower extremities up towards the trunk and returning into the heart) active when the venous system is dilated immediately post-exercise.

The primary metabolic importance of a cool-down is that lactate (by-product of anaerobic contribution to high-intensity aerobic exercise) is dissipated faster during an activity recovery (read: not sitting down immediately post-exercise). While a lactate removal rate is maximized after approximately 20 minutes, lower intensity exercise sessions would benefit sufficiently from a ~10 minute cool-down.

Important message to take from this entry: a warm-up and cool-down are essential to include in any exercise session; regardless of it's nature.

You have read the science behind some of the reasons, now just be sure to integrate what you've learned. Look forward to more suggestions for topics. Thank you!

Submitted by Al Smith, HAPLab Manager

Topic: Summertime Activity Tips (Get Ready!)

Well, I believe summer is about here in Gunnison. The joke with seasons here (as I understand it) is that we go from winter, trip through something called spring and seemingly right into summer. Ha, ha. Anyways, the topic of discussion for this week is summertime activity and how to make subtle changes to find yourself morphing slowly into a new season of you!

Right off the bat, I want to address the fact that we all are created equal but uniquely different; meaning, we all look different externally despite our shared internals. We come in various heights, weights, shapes, sizes, and colors. With that being said, let us talk about making subtle, livable changes to our routine this summer season that fits who we are as uniquely different individuals.

A FEW BASIC TIPS FOR SUMMERTIME ACTIVITY & WELLNESS:

+Get Outside!
With plenty of sunshine in the Gunny Valley and warmer temperatures, you should strive to dedicate a morning or afternoon/evening time slot to doing some sort of activity outside this summer. Pick an activity you find highly enjoyable; if tossing football or baseballs with you son or daughter is an activity that is highly enjoyable, then get out there and do it! My favorite and by far the easier of many modalities is walking. I love to get outside in the sunshine (winter or summer) and absorb all that is around me - whether I'm walking the streets of Gunnison or on a trail in the wilderness that is all around us. If you are making excuses to not go outside (i.e. too hot, not enough time, etc.) then perhaps you need to reevaluate your situation. If anything, exercise is the one factor that will make your life more fulfilling and enjoyable!

+Set Obtainable Goals!
Using the last tip as an example, if you enjoy interacting outside with your children, then make a goal to do it 3 nights a week and 1 weekend day; or, a number of days/hours that fits your schedule. The key to an obtainable goal is starting with a goal you know you can obtain. What to do after you obtain your goal? Set a new one! This time up the ante another day or a few more hours; or, make it a goal to add variety to the routine so it does not become mundane. An easy way to keep yourself honest with a goal is to write the goal down in a place that you will see on a daily basis. Perhaps the kitchen sink, or perhaps in the bathroom by the sink where you brush your teeth and comb your hair. This way you will be more likely to hold yourself accountable for that obtainable goal you set.

+Get Family and Friends Involved!
There is no better way to adhere to set goals than by having a partner to keep you honest as well as keeping them honest in turn. Research demonstrates the greater likeliness of participation and adherence when a spouse (such as the example below) or friend help to socially support your new habit or goal. This link is about a spouse study on lipid enhancement but the basic ideas stressed in the article are what I am striving to exemplify. Study protocol: Couples Partnering for Lipid Enhancing Strategies.

Lastly, keeping in tune with the uniquely different individuals that we are, remember that what works great for another person is not necessarily going to work great for you as well. Again, pick something you enjoy and could see yourself doing everyday/multiple days a week. Do not feel pressured into doing an activity or type of exercise if you really are not enjoying it. After all, just like when we were children, activity/exercise should be something that elicits mass continued movement, smiles, and a greater overall self-satisfaction with continued maintenance and pursuit.

Life's a garden....DIG IT!!! See you outside :)

Submitted by Al Smith, HAPLab Manager

Topic: General Exercise Guidelines

First topic is quite general, but from here we can at least start and forge onward and outward. Here it goes...

What constitutes Exercise?

Exercise is a single acute bout of bodily exertion or muscular activity that requires an expenditure of energy above resting level and generally results in voluntary movement.(Plowman et al.)

Exercise is generally planned and structured to improve or maintain physical fitness; exercise differs from physical activity, which usually connotates movement designed to sustain daily living or recreation. Bearing this in mind, what kind of exercise is right for you; or, are you better off focusing on a mixture of physical activity and exercise?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 3 to 5 days a week of cardiorespiratory exercise (running, walking, biking, etc.), 2 to 3 days/week of resistance training (lifting free weights, machines, bands, etc.), and a minimum of 2 to 3 days/week of flexibility training (ideally 5 to 7 days/wk).

Within those specific areas:

Cardiorespiratory should be 20-60 minutes in duration and involve large muscle groups in a dynamic (moving) activity.

Resistance training: 1-2 sets of 3 to 20 repetitions of 8 to 10 exercises including all major muscle groups (i.e. Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms, Legs, Core).

Flexibility training should address all the major muscle groups as well, lasting approximately 15-30 seconds per stretch; repeated 2-4x per stretch. *Interesting to note though is the emerging research on the benefits of Dynamic stretching versus Static (stationary) stretching, as just described to you. Check out this link to a study abstract published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning for more information about Static vs. Dynamic and decide for yourself; though, research is shifting previously held notions. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19204571?ordinalpos=13&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)

After reading the above paragraphs, how do you feel about it? What comes to mind when you read over it? Leave your comments and/or ANY feedback!

Submitted by Al Smith, HAPLab Manager

1st Post on the New HAPLab Forum and Blog!

Welcome, welcome everyone! I, Al Smith, am very excited to present to you the new High Altitude Performance Lab's (HAPLab) brand new forum and blog. The main purpose of this is to present weekly topics of interest to ourselves, our students, or you the readers in the area of sport science. I am pleased to say that this blog/forum is open to anyone; please tell your friends, family, and co-workers.

Great potential exists for this blog to be a cornerstone of dependable and accurate information in a world of misleading and incorrect information.

As stated in the welcome section (to your top left), this blog/forum will be open to topics of your interest; in the absence of suggested topics, I or other ESS Faculty here at the Western State College of Colorado will post topics for discussion. Commenting is highly encouraged, even if you would like to learn more about a different topic. Suggestions are always welcome, and anything or any topic that would rather be kept anonymous can be emailed discretely to me at HAPLab01@gmail.com

I am looking forward to getting this off the ground in the next coming week. Please join me in making this blog/forum the place to learn, foster, and advance our common interest.

Lastly, you will find that 1 comment has been left by me, with directions for leaving comments on blog posts. Enjoy!

Submitted by Al Smith, HAPLab Manager