Dancing is classified as an art and not a sport, but make no mistake: Great athleticism is required! From ballet to breakdance you can express yourself wordlessly, but you will undergo movements which are at the very limit of the human range of motion. If you do this for hours a day your chances of […]
Read More… from Come back better – injury prevention drills for Dancing
Defining what’s a sport can be tinged with superiority and favouritism! Wait billiard? Is that even a sport? What about darts? Or e-sports? Or car races? Or hunting? They very often don’t look very athletic. So, why are so many people addicted to it, training day and night to excel? A classic approach is how […]
Strap your seatbelts for a short history of substance abuse in sports. It’s hard to believe what’s been seen as performance-enhancing over the years. Famously Dorando Pietri was disqualified after crossing the London 1908 marathon finish line first, because he was fainting and got a little push to complete his last few meters. Johnny Hayes, […]
When one 17 year old girl compares notes with one 17 year old boy who has the same activity level as her, then the male is a little stronger than the female. But that does not translate into the potential. Girls are penalised at the start, but that doesn’t stop them from reaching any level of strength, […]
Didn’t camp much as a kid? It’s not a big step to offer your own kids some light adventure! Eating outdoors, organising garden games, a weekend of camping – it’s the same mindset. There really are only two essentials to being comfortable when you move your regular activities outdoors: You need to stay warm and […]
Many different kinds of sport drinks promise miracles. Let’s check the facts! Fluids while exercising – the science Allowing muscle fibres to contract: Your muscles work thank to the “sliding” of interlaced fibres, actin and myosin. Water, alongside some minerals, is a key element for this to happen*. If there is scarcity of water in your […]
Read More… from Hydration for Sports: What Should You Drink?
There are claims that 15 minutes of stretching every day reduces the risk of injury to pretty much non-existent and counter-claims that stretches weaken your joints. Let’s debunk some myths about flexibility training. The anatomy of a joint A joint connects two bones. Some joints aren’t meant to move at all (e.g. the flat bones which your […]
The boom in youth development As for bones and skeletal muscles, there is a time-window during your teens when the respiratory system grows at the fastest rate of your life. Your heart, the muscle which controls your circulatory system, is closely linked to your respiratory system. Great news is, during puberty it starts responding to […]
During puberty you can hitch a ride to max out on sports coordination for life. It’s a unique opportunity you don’t want to miss, and I’ll explain the physiological science here. My pro tip is to engage in different disciplines and sports from the age of ten onwards, if not earlier. I don’t mean random […]
