Helmets for fitness have seriously evolved in the past 25 years, and while even a decade ago riders in pro cycling didn’t like to wear them, now the helmets are not only required – they are embraced. But there is still a ways to go, and the Swedish developers at MIPS are working on building a better helmet. Because it isn’t just about protecting the head, it is also about protecting the gray matter in side. Niklas Steenberg, CEO of MIPS AB tells where helmet development is “headed.” Continue reading Sunday Q&A: MIPS Talks About Building a Better Brain Bucket
Category: Research
Weekend Reading List (3.17.12): Pro Cycling Challenge Goes Gran, CDC Butts Out, Fat Cells Burn, MLB Social Swing
USA Pro Cycling Does Texas Gran
From BikeRadar: USA Pro Cycling Challenge partner with Gran Fondo: Texas TMCO
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge, one of the largest professional cycling races in the US, have teamed up with the second-annual Gran Fondo: Texas TMCO to create the KOM (King of the Mountain) Challenge. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (3.17.12): Pro Cycling Challenge Goes Gran, CDC Butts Out, Fat Cells Burn, MLB Social Swing
Study Shows High-Intensity Exercise Can Alter DNA
We all know that working out can alter your physical appearance, but did you know that it can also alter your DNA?
A recent study published in the March 2012 issue of Cell Metabolism shows that high intensity exercise can change the chemical tagging of your DNA, activating genes responsible for burning lipids and glucose. In the study, researchers examined 14 participants before and after they rode to exhaustion on an exercise bike. The scientists then took thigh-muscle tissue samples of the riders and noticed that when participants worked out at high intensity (80% of their maximum aerobic capacity) there was a diminished presence of chemicals known as methyl groups. The disappearance of these methyl groups allowed other proteins – specifically proteins that support the metabolism of sugar and fat – to show themselves. The appearance of these proteins basically tells your body to go into fat-burning mode. However, when the participants exercised at low-intensity (40% of their maximum aerobic capacity), scientists detected more methyl than when they rode at high capacity. Continue reading Study Shows High-Intensity Exercise Can Alter DNA
Hockey Season Washed Out Due to Mild Winter
The sky isn’t falling, but the ice on the ground is melting. That’s the findings of a new study by scientists at McGill and Concordia universities and it is essentially ruining this year’s outdoor hockey season. As CNN.com noted this week in a story titled, “Study claims possible end to Canada’s outdoor pastime,” several headlines from around Canada predicted an ominous future including: “Thin Ice: Canada’s outdoor rinks face meltdown,” “Global warming could spell the end of Canada’s outdoor hockey rink” and even “Climate change melting backyard hockey rinks.” Continue reading Hockey Season Washed Out Due to Mild Winter
Bean Bag Helmet
Earlier this week we noted that helmet development continues as research has shown that rotational motion is something needs to be considered as well. Numerous helmets have tried to offer ways to provide additional support, and now we heard about Vacotechnology AG’s Vaco 12 technology, which used vacuum cushions that are comprised of small, round beads – the kind you might find in a stuffed animal or bean bag chair – and the concept here is to provide a snugger helmet that is comfortable and can help absorb impact up to four times more effectively than just a traditional foam helmet. Continue reading Bean Bag Helmet
It’s Called a Brain Bucket For a Reason
The good old sports helmet has been around a while, and the first recorded use of a dedicated fitness helmet was probably designed for football – although British officers did use their pith or sun helmets to play polo in the 19th century. Today helmets are often called “brain buckets” as they do product the gray matter and much more.
And in the past couple of years a lot has been made of the importance of designing a better helmet, with MIPS AB being among those on the forefront of changing the way helmets should (rather than do) protect the head. As GearJunkie noted last week:
MIPS stands for “multi-directional impact protection system,” and the company touts its technology as mimicking one of the body’s natural defenses against trauma. The brain is surrounded by a “low-friction cushion of cerebrospinal fluid,” MIPS literature notes, adding that its technology imitates the brain’s way of protecting itself by giving the helmet its own “low-friction layer” between the outer shell and the liner. This layer, which is a plastic insert, absorbs energy created in a fall and better protects the brain, MIPS claims. Continue reading It’s Called a Brain Bucket For a Reason
Triathlon American Conference: Who is Trying Triathlons?
This week Active Network and Triathlon American released the findings of new comprehensive study of men and women who participating in the sport of triathlons. This study was released at the Triathlon American conference, which was held at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, California.
Key findings of the study include the identification of four groups of triathlon participants based on experience and motivations — the newcomer, the practitioner, the veteran and the lapsed triathlete. According to group these segments define a triathlete’s willingness to travel, the types of races they prefer, what keeps them in the sport and what they hope to get out of their participation.
“We believe this report will provide race organizations better direction into how to re-engage lapsed athletes, support the growing segment of female participants, and involve a triathlete’s friends and family in the triathlon experience in order to increase participation,” said Dave Alberga, chief executive officer at Active Network in a statement. “Additionally, it will provide brands targeting this growing audience with information not readily available until now.” Continue reading Triathlon American Conference: Who is Trying Triathlons?
Shape Shack Venture for Snowboards
If the shape of a snowboard wasn’t important to performance boards would probably look like flat – well boards! But shape is important, Colorado-based Venture Snowboards isn’t just going back to the drawing board, it is introducing its new experimental division, the Shape Shack, with the goal of coming up with odd yet funcation board designs that other companies haven’t thought of yet. Continue reading Shape Shack Venture for Snowboards
Weekend Reading List (2.4.12): Runners Talk, NASA Innovates, House Votes Against Bikes
httpv://youtu.be/NPdb7ZDJKS4
New Day, Same Old Sh…
Welcome to the Weekend Reading List. We moved the list to Saturday to give our loyal readers something new for the weekend, and as a way to catch up on stories that they might have missed. This week we being with Sh*t Barefoot Runners Say (video above).
Enjoy the list and be sure to check back every Saturday. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (2.4.12): Runners Talk, NASA Innovates, House Votes Against Bikes
Bauer RE-visits Hockey Helmet Design
Head injuries have become a serious concern in numerous sports, and Bauer Hockey is taking the issue head on so speak by revisiting the way helmets take hits. While most helmets are designed to address linear impacts a bigger risk says a Bauer study is the rotational forces that can contribute to head injuries.
Bauer’s RE-AKT helmet is the first hockey-specific helmet designed to manage the multiple type of hits that players take including rotational-force impacts, which have been scientifically proven to cause significant head injuries. To address this issue the Bauer RE-AKT takes on the problem with the SUSPEND-TECH liner, a unique patent-pending rotational impact protection system to protect the head from excessive rotational acceleration when the helmet is impacted. Continue reading Bauer RE-visits Hockey Helmet Design
Thursday Reading List (1/26/2012)
Outdoor Retailer Show Growing!
Welcome to the Thursday reading list. The trade shows continue, we’ve already seen new products come out of the Consumer Electronics Show and SHOT Show and it seems that this week’s Outdoor Retailer Show is outgrowing its home in Salt Lake City reports KSL.com, which noted (video above):
The Salt Palace Convention Center has expanded twice to host the show. The outdoor industry, and all the products associated with it, just keeps growing, and more and more companies want to be a part of this show every year. It’s kind of a nice problem to have, companies say.
CES 2012: Valencell Exhibits Ear Bud Sensor Technology for Biometric Measurements
The Consumer Electronics Show is a hotbed of new and upcoming tech products, but there are also plenty of companies showcasing new technologies that may one day end up in a product at a future CES. One such company is Valencell, which is demonstrating its V-LINC health and fitness ear-bud sensor tech. Due to the nature of the ear, V-LINC’s technology “continuously measures more real-time biometric data, with higher accuracy, in virtually any environment, than any other health and fitness sensor technology on the market,” Valencell said.
“Studies show that 70 percent of regular exercisers wear audio headsets while exercising, and Valencell aspires to connect with that audience to make health and fitness more accessible through our earbud sensor technology,” said Valencell CEO and co-founder Steven LeBoeuf. “Companies will discover how they can turn audio headsets into health and fitness devices on multiple mobile platforms by integrating V-LINC.”
At CES, Valencell is demoing how the technology would work with various mobile platforms, including iOS and Android. Demonstrators wear an ear bud prototype that measures biometric data such as continuous heart rate; calories burned; cardiovascular fitness; metabolic rate; and distance and speed while using a treadmill, stationary bike, and in other activities. The data is then streamed to one of the platforms.
Valencell says V-LINC is compatible with regular headset manufacturing processes, so a headphone maker can easily license and implement the technology into its product.
Technology Reducing Sports Related Injury
One trend we saw very much this year was how technology is being used to reduce injuries. We’ve seen new improvements in helmets and sensors for football, baseball and hockey. We’ve seen helmets being used in skiing and snowboarding, as well as cycling of course. Continue reading Technology Reducing Sports Related Injury