Month: February 2016

Strength Training for Peak Endurance Performance

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By Marc Lewis and the Exercise Geeks

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Let’s face it: too many coaches and trainers overlook the need for maximal strength and power development in endurance athletes. Sure, it’s easy to simply cast aside the endurance athletes and focus on the high-octane sports like football, basketball, and baseball. After all, specificity dictates that they only need muscular endurance training, right? No doubt, there’s a time and place for high-rep work. But it turns out that well-trained and elite endurance athletes are often just spinning their wheels with too much of it.

Ultimately, the goals of any good strength training program are to optimize performance while reducing injury. Nevertheless, there remain many misconceptions regarding not only the type of strength training that endurance athletes need, but also the adaptations they need to make.

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Planning Your Attack on Recovery

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By Dr. Chris Leib and the Exercise Geeks

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Recently, many media and scientifically-based articles have been published emphasizing the importance and benefits of optimal recovery for athletes and population alike [1-4]. Whenever there’s a rush of new information on a topic, trying to find the plan of care that’s right for you can be pretty overwhelming.

Below, we hope to simplify this information by classifying recovery and restoration techniques into five broad categories that are imperative for optimal function.

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What It Means to Be Evidence-based

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By the Exercise Geeks

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When contemplating evidence-based practice – regardless of whether it’s a physical therapy or strength and conditioning setting – we always reference the principles set forth by Dr. David Sackett. The late Canadian-American medical doctor was a pioneer in the field of evidence-based medicine. He deconstructed the practice into a triad of factors:

  1. Collect and appraise the best available clinical evidence.
  2. Integrate this evidence with clinical expertise.
  3. Apply this evidence in the context of patient/client values and expectations.

To better understand the role of each factor in the decision-making process, let’s dive deeper into each one individually.

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