Have the roller a while. suffer a bit with my IT band. theyre a godsend
:lol:
Its waiting and rearing to go
only at end of a run. I use foam roller before a run, static stretches after run and then foam roller again.
Research pours cold water on alleged benefits of sports products
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/19/research-sports-products-alleged-benefits
Claims about how trainers, sports drinks and supplements will help grassroots or elite athletes train harder and achieve better times are usually based on no or flawed evidence, researchers have revealed.
Sportswear giants, such as Nike and Puma, and manufacturers of drinks, such as Powerade and Lucozade Sport, regularly insist their products confer advantages on users. But such claims are so difficult to verify because of a lack of reliable evidence to back them up that “it is virtually impossible for the public to make informed choices about the benefits and harms of advertised sports products, based on the available evidence”, according to a study by a team from Oxford University and the British Medical Journal.
“There is a striking lack of evidence to support the vast majority of sports-related products that make claims related to enhanced performance or recovery, including drinks, supplements and footwear,” conclude researchers led by Dr Carl Heneghan of Oxford’s centre for evidence-based medicine.
Half the websites for such products provide no evidence for these claims and of those that do, half the evidence could not be critically appraised.
The findings, which will be broadcast in Thursday’s Panorama on BBC One, suggest that many participants in sport may have been misled by marketing techniques and dubious claims and are wasting their money.
Makers of sports drinks have succeeded in persuading people that they need to drink them, rather than water, and forged links with leading sports bodies in a bid to gain the public’s trust and normalise their use, according to a joint BMJ-BBC investigation.
Phrases such as “stay ahead of thirst”, promotion of the “science of hydration” and advising sports enthusiasts to consume sports drinks before starting to exercise have helped create a global industry that forecasters Mintel estimated will be worth $1.6bn by 2016, they say.
Many such drinks, which are also popular with children, contain a lot of sugar. For example, a 500ml bottle of Powerade Ion4 contains 19.6g of sugar, while bottles of Lucozade Sport and Gatorade the same size contain 17.5g and 30g of sugar respectively, they found.
Drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline, who make Lucozade Sport, cited 174 studies to underline the merits of their drink, which they claim is “proven to enhance physical endurance” and is “specially formulated to help you get the most out of your sporting performance”. But just three of the 174 studies were deemed of good enough standard by the researchers, leading them to note the “worrying” lack of reliable evidence.
The Oxford team did not find any reliable evidence that certain types of trainers help reduce the risk of sports injury. A recent American study, the largest of its kind undertaken, found no difference in injury risk between wearers of sports shoes designed to correct pronation and those in normal trainers.
But Professor John Brewer, head of sports science at the University of Bedfordshire, said that while those who exercised to keep fit may find that water is enough to quench their thirst, “those who compete intensively for long durations have been shown by numerous studies to improve their performance through the sensible consumption of sports drinks”.
Dr Colin Cable, the pharmaceutical science information officer at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that manufacturers of sports drinks must always support claims they make with proper evidence to help consumers. The alleged benefits of foods and dietary supplements must also be well-founded, he added.
“However, for the vast majority of sporting participants, it is questionable whether any form of supplementation will be necessary, as a healthy balanced diet will provide their body’s requirements for protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals,” Cable added.
I thought this has been known for years??In regards those drinks, it actually takes up to two hours to break that stuff down… The odd time I buy them I pour half it out and dilute with water, tho a cordial drink is probably just as good. The main problem with them drinks is that youngsters think they need to perform, and the sugar content, as pointed out, is shocking.
isn’t the best isotonic drink meant to be half a cup of orange juice mixed with 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt…
Sure it even says on the bottles that in order for the 33% claim to be true you have to drink something like 2 litres before and 2 litres during
I am thinking if doing a bit of running this autumn/winter. Nothing major just to keep the heart ticking over. Any advice from the running experts on here about good running shoes/runners/tackies? Don’t need professional, just something reasonable.
Your best bet is to go to a store where they provide gait analysis. Then they can recommend which type of runner / trainer best suits your gait / stride.
anything by adidas, mizuno or asics will do fine for moderate distances, i.e. no more than 10k in one session
there’s a massive debate about the usefulness or otherwise of runners designed to correct pronation, some studies are showing that minimalist footwear is as beneficial, if not more so.
again, irrelevant unless you’re running high mileage regularly.
stretching, hydration and diet will be more important for you imho.
67 mins for the 14km city 2 surf run at the weekend. 5 mins better than last year
Well done KIB, massive improvement within a year 
I managed to knock nearly 4 minutes off my best time for a 10k. Now I only started running in March 2011 so I have been doing mainly 3k and 5k runs depending on when I have tennis matches. In this time I have managed to do 3 10k runs, the first one was 61 minutes, I’m not a speedster with my dodgey knees, the next one was 1 hour 24 secs, was delighted I knocked a few seconds off. My last 10k done a month later was 56.37, I thought I was going to die at the end of it. Unfortunately struggling with a knee injury and a few tennis tournaments so I haven’t been able to do another 10k.
did my first triathlon this week
im a lot better at it than i thought id be- my coach rowan said if i keep it up I could become a viper legend
[quote=“treaty_exile, post: 65481”]
anything by adidas, mizuno or asics will do fine for moderate distances, i.e. no more than 10k in one session
there’s a massive debate about the usefulness or otherwise of runners designed to correct pronation, some studies are showing that minimalist footwear is as beneficial, if not more so.
again, irrelevant unless you’re running high mileage regularly.
stretching, hydration and diet will be more important for you imho.[/quote]
Thanks, i bought a pair of Asics tackies eventually. Gel Excel33 or something. Black and amber colour.
Lidl have “running shoes” for 20€. Probably just as good as the 120€+ science tested yokes in sports shops.
I doubt it
Didn’t do much training either. Guess when you are in the zone anything is possible
Anyway thinking of hitting the weights for a while. A few options
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sign up for fitness first less than 200m from my flat and manage my own schedule
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there are a few personal trainers type of setups less than 200m from the flat too. Vision fitness is one, bird at work, her husband works for them. If you got a good trainer they might provide some much needed motivation. Used to think only tosser/exec wannabes got personal trainers but I’m probably in that category in truth
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buying a barbell and weights and set up a bench/squat bar set up in my spare room. Lad
at work has done this but it ain’t cheap either. Also any person I’ve seen try this soon has an expensive clothes horse
What do you goys reckon?
Reckon A few sessions with trainer to learn what you need to do.
I wouldn’t bother buying equipment, join a gym and use the stuff when you need it.
[quote=“Kinvara, post: 65490”]
Exactly- Technique, technique, technique. You could bate away doing shit wrong on your own but it will be counter productive. I guess in this day and age you can get a lot from online demos but a proper instructor who will straighten posture, allignment or correct grip etc is adviseable- especially if doing squats or deadlifts (which are the two best exercises any one could do). The amount of people who sqaut wrong is crazy or indeed deadlift, fellas are doing serious damage to their back or even knees without realising it. Even simple bicep curls are constantly done wrong and you see fellas swinging back and forth while doing them.
Go to a proper instructor, learn to do it right.
I’m after buying a pair so I’ll see. Usually get a yr out of an expensive pair before they fall apart so if I get 3 months out of these I’ll be happy. Seem v decent so far.