Many new runners complain that they can’t breathe even on short runs. Indeed, getting in enough air is foremost on their minds. It’s a marvel of physiology that enough air gets into our bodies, with our nostrils being no larger than the size of a pea. Even the space between semi-pursed lips is small considering […]
Dear Diary, Flying back to the U.S. from southeast Asia, I watched the movie Paper Planes. It’s about a 12-year-old boy from Australia who competes in the World Paper Airplane Championships in Tokyo. It reminded me of how my brother used to do Origami when we were kids. And how I used to throw paper […]
Just got back from an hour run on the other side of the International Date Line. September starts with a trip to southeast Asia—Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. First stop: Jakarta, Indonesia to speak at the Indonesia Fitness and Health Expo. Looks like someone is sleeping on the job. Airport security is not like it is […]
I’ll tell you a little secret. I often get complimented on my butt. Yes, it’s true. I’ve been running 6 days a week since 6th grade, plenty of time to sculpt the perfect butt. Have you ever wanted to run outside in shorts or wear tight jeans at a nightclub but didn’t feel you […]
Whether you want to run around the block or qualify for the Boston Marathon, how you train can have a dramatic effect on your performance. While running just to run will certainly make you fitter, understanding all of the training components and putting them together in a systematic training plan gives you the blueprint for […]
Years ago, I applied to be a personal trainer in a gym. Taking one look at my runner’s body, the owner said to me, “Go work out for a couple of months and come back to reapply.” Happy as I was with my runner’s body, I never went back. But it occurred to me that […]
If you’re a runner, chances are that sometime in your running life you’ve done hill repeats. The rather simple idea of running up and down a hill may seem monotonous and unnecessary to some but, for a runner, hill repeats are an often-used method of improving fitness. The feel of your heart pounding in your […]
For the past two years, I’ve been writing a column on education for Personal Fitness Professional magazine. It’s given me a good opportunity to reflect on my own education, what it really means, and how it helps (or doesn’t help) my career. In the book Why We Run, zoologist and ultramarathon runner Bernd Heinrich […]
Muscles are the most accessible way we have to see what our workouts do to our bodies. However, despite how many compliments you get from your Instagram pictures taken following your workouts, what matters is not what your muscles look like, but what they can do. In the early days, it was the strength […]
I’ve been thinking about bones lately. Remember the jingle we learned as kids: “The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone is connected to the knee bone, the knee bone is connected to the shin bone…”? That jingle can go on for some time since there are 206 bones in […]