There are a lot of reasons to do non-running work, such as strength training or other forms of what we would just call cross training.
Primarily among those reasons are longevity benefits and injury prevention. Or so we thought.
As it turns out, this meta analysis (review of multiple studies) did not find injury prevention benefits in “exercise-based [injury] prevention programs” unless the individuals were supervised by a coach. I followed along with a discussion with one of the authors and he suggested that, while further study is needed, his theory would be that unsupervised people who get the technique wrong both lose some of the benefit of the exercise and increase their risk of injury from the exercise.
This is a pretty surprising and disturbing result to be honest. I’m still thinking about how to take it personally, although I do have some built in benefits in that I have in the past been guided through most or all of the exercises I do so I do have an advantage over the average person. What to suggest to others? I’m definitely still thinking through that.
Gait assymetry and injury risk: In other surprising injury related news, a new study came out reviewing gait asymmetry and its effect on injury risk.
For quite some time, we’ve been told that asymmetry in our running form is a serious injury risk. Modern running watches and other devices to measure running metrics are focusing more and more on ways to measure your symmetry, with the idea that more symmetry is better.
However, this study suggests that it’s just not. In short, an asymmetric gait was not associated with increased injury risk.
I’m going to be interested to see some follow up studies as this is just one study but it definitely produced a result that should be considered. Hopefully, most studies will follow.
Carbohydrate restriction and performance: There has been talk for some time (I remember this back when I was in college roughly 25 years ago) about running in a carbohydrate (glycogen) depleted state in order to “train” your body to burn more fat. The idea is that, if you can train your body to burn more fat, then you can take in more carbohydrates to top off your glycogen stores and burn both fuels, one at a higher rate than previously, in order to gain a performance benefit.
Well, it appears that might not actually work. In addition, there are potentially serious drawbacks to restricting your carbohydrate intake. There are serious health considerations to consider.
Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of carbohydrate restricted training. I felt there might be a place for ultra runners. I do think we’ve gone overboard feeling the need to fuel every run. However, intentionally running out of glycogen during training seems like a bad idea for a significant majority of runners a significant majority of the time. This leaves me feeling like I should double down on that take.
A couple quick hitters
How long do super shoes last? Not as long as “normal” training shoes.
How much water should you be drinking? It depends.
Exercise increases brain size and may slow memory decline: And it doesn’t take much exercise to see the benefits.