Category: Research

Study Explains Difference Between the Sexes in Terms of Soccer

Research shows men kick the soccer ball differently than women. The study, published this month in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, finds males activate certain hip and leg muscles more than females during the most common soccer kicks – the instep and side-foot kicks. While men activate more muscles, the data may explain why female players are twice as likely as male players to sustain anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.

“By analyzing the detailed motion of a soccer kick in progress, our goal was to home in on some of the differences between the sexes and how they may relate to injury risk,” said orthopaedic surgeon Robert H. Brophy, MD, the study author and assistant professor of orthopedics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Continue reading Study Explains Difference Between the Sexes in Terms of Soccer

Book Review: Bicycle Technology by Rob van der Plas & Stuart Baird

There have been dozens of books on bicycle maintenance, riding techniques and even the history of the sport, but little has been written that actually describes the technology around a bike – at least not in a way for the average rider. Authors Rob van der Plas and Stuart Baird, who both share a lifelong passion for bicycles, have finally addressed this and have written a concise book that examines everything you’d ever need to know about the two wheel contraptions.

This effort, Bicycle Technology: Understanding the Modern Bicycle & Its Components will appeal to the hardcore gear head as well as the causal rider. It offers 28 chapters, beginning (fittingly enough) with a short yet thorough history and development of bicycle, its accompanying technology and finally to what the future may bring for riders. Additionally, this book offers detailed information on practically every single component and materials used in bike construction, and while this isn’t meant to be a study on maintenance, it will help anyone who tinkers with their cycles have a better understanding of how the specific parts work. Other key topics such as different types of bicycles, as well as information on design are all presented over the course of the 320 pages. Continue reading Book Review: Bicycle Technology by Rob van der Plas & Stuart Baird

Skechers Tones Up Marketing Campaign

The war of the words over “toning shoes” isn’t going to end any time soon, and the Los Angeles Business Journal is now reporting that Skechers is putting its best foot forward, and it looks to kick back at the criticism.

 The paper notes, “Skechers has hired Century City crisis communication firm Sitrick & Co. to tell its side of the story and has brought in defamation attorney Anthony Glassman and high-powered litigator Daniel Petrocelli, famous for his victory in the O.J. Simpson civil case.” That’s some big firepower, but as the story notes, there is a lot riding on the shoes.

[Via Los Angeles Business Journal: Shoemaker Steps Up Defense] 

 

 

Showdown Over “Toning Products” Looming?

A war of words could be brewing over those so-called “toning” shoes reports MediaPost, which notes that Nike is firing back at rivals Reebok/Adidas (Adidas owns Reebok). Nike is running print ads (see below) for its own Trainer One women’s shoe, with the headline “The Ultimate Quick Fix is not a magical toning shoe,” and follows with the tag line: “This shoe works if you do.” In other words it goes back to the old Nike slogan of “Just do it.” So is that the end of the “toning” craze? Not likely. Continue reading Showdown Over “Toning Products” Looming?

New Performance Fabrics Processed with Plasma

It’s the gas in your TV. And now it’s the gas that created the surface of your clothes. Plasma is a gas created by applying electrical fields to pure gas or gas mixtures in a vacuum chamber. A Swiss company called Eschler is using plasma to cause systematic surface modifications to fabrics. Translation: A process that creates water-resistant, water-absorbing and dirt-repellent fabrics through the use of electricity and an ionic gas rather than the use of chemicals or excessive water. Plasma changes the surface of the fabric to grant these properties through particular textures whether they’re smooth or mottled. The process has traditionally been achieved through the use of wet processing with chemicals and lots and lots of water. The chemical process often makes the fabric too stiff, and wears away with repeated washing.

Continue reading New Performance Fabrics Processed with Plasma

Hit 18 Holes Without Actually Going Outside

With the aboutGolf simulator you won't have to search for lost balls in the woods

People pay good money to join a golf club, and even more money to travel to some of the world’s most scenic courses – but despite this fact there are times when you just can’t get outside for a round of golf. One way to avoid the weather and still get in a full 18 holes is to take advantage of the latest indoor golf simulator technology. And we’re not talking about a simple putting green in the corner or even golf on the Nintendo Wii, because while the video game experience is good, it isn’t quite like the real deal. For that you’ll have to turn to companies such as aboutGolf, which recently announced that it was the “secret weapon” in Canada’s University of Waterloo recent season.

The technology was utilized by the University of Waterloo’s engineering school, which took it to a new level with UW golf equipment and biomechanics researchers. This included studies of the technology, where engineering students used the aboutGolf PGA TOUR Simulator with new shaft and clubhead deisgns, as well as biomechanic modeling, motion capture, and golf ball simulation and optimization. This collaboration allowed UW’s men’s and women’s golf teams as part of their training for the 2010 season. Continue reading Hit 18 Holes Without Actually Going Outside

Eye-Hand Coordination Gets Serious Attention From Dynavision

Today pre-season football training isn’t just limited to weight lifting, running sprints and hitting the tackling dummies. Elite athletes are looking for that special edge to become faster, smarter and stronger, because this edge can truly mean the difference between winning and losing. Now it looks like many NCAA athletic programs and other performance institutions around the country are casting an eye on sports vision training equipment. Who knew that eye-hand coordination could be something you could actually use as part of your training, but that’s exactly what Dynavision D2 can bring to the field or court. Continue reading Eye-Hand Coordination Gets Serious Attention From Dynavision

Debate Rages on “Toning Shoes”

One of the latest rages this year has been the so-called “toning” shoes, such as those from Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT), Skechers Shape-Ups and Reebook Easy Tones – but now the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the largest non-profit fitness certification, education and training organization in the world has given those shoes a thumbs down. This week ACE released the findings of an independent research study, which suggests that there is no evidence that the shoes help wearers exercise more intensely or burn more calories.

The study, which is reportedly one of the first from an independent organization further enlisted a team of researchers from the Exercise and Health Programs at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

“Toning shoes appear to promise a quick-and-easy fitness solution, which we realize people are always looking for,” says ACE’s Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D.  “Unfortunately, these shoes do not deliver the fitness or muscle toning benefits they claim.  Our findings demonstrate that toning shoes are not the magic solution consumers were hoping they would be, and simply do not offer any benefits that people cannot reap through walking, running or exercising in traditional athletic shoes.”

However, Katherine Hobson, who contributes to the Health Blog for The Wall Street Journal offered a bit of commentary on this release:

“It should be noted that ACE is a nonprofit that certifies a lot of fitness pros who would be out of a job if we could all get fit without working out. ACE says it commissioned the study but that it was independently designed and conducted.”

Skechers also disagrees and has posted a website that includes results from four clinical case studies. In other words, the debate will rage on.

American Council on Exercise (ACE) Research Study Finds Toning Shoes Fail to Deliver on Fitness Claims  Via PR Newswire

Wall Street Journal: American Council on Exercise: Study Finds Toning Shoes Don’t Work

Skechers: Shape Ups Clinical Case Study

Air Ball

adidas World Cup Jabulani Ball

This week the California Institute of Technology gave new meaning to the concept of “air ball” as aerospace engineers at the prestigious school put the controversial new “Jabulani” football (that’s soccer to most of us Americans) to the test in a wind tunnel. The ball, which was developed by adidas, is currently being used in the World Cup, where players, coaches and fans have blamed it for missed shots. So much for blaming bad play?

According to reports two balls were put into the Lucas Wind Tunnel and exposed to wind speeds of about 10 meters per second, which is actually slower than a typical kicked ball. To determine the movement of air around said balls, a smoke machine was called in. This helped the engineers visualize the air movement. The findings actually matched some complaints from teams in the World Cup. The ball reportedly had some “bizarre trajectories.”

 Developed by the adidas Innovation Team (a.i.t.), the ball has been tested as new “match ball” for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. This mean tests under the toughest laboratory conditions, but it isn’t clear if this is in fact the first time the ball went into a wind tunnel. At this point it doesn’t look as if the ball will pulled, but with more studies coming dare we say that the wind of change is blowing through.

Adiddas World Cup  Jabulani Ball at Amazon.com

[Via Reuters: Geeks give new Cup ball a wind tunnel workout]

Do Fitness Games Pose Health Risk?

Working out with the Wii (iStockphoto)

Ever since the Nintendo Wii debuted in December of 2006, there has been an increase in more “active” games, such as Nintendo’s own Wii-Fit. As the video game companies prepare to showcase the next generation of fitness games at next week’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles, an interesting question was brought up this week by The Boston Globe: can you get hurt by playing the games?

As we’ve noted this week, there have been findings that games are being used more and more as a form of exercise, but this needs to be done as part of an “active” lifestyle. So in other words, just sitting on the couch doesn’t do it. But now the other half of the equation is being presented, and that is whether you can actually over do it by playing games.

There are obviously the repetitive stress disorder type injuries such as mashing away with too much Rock Band, or mouse wrist from shooting all those zombies in Left 4 Dead. But could this lead to other injuries. The Boston Globe reports that a pilot study is “being conducted at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston this summer,” and “may be the first to address the injury problem directly, by looking into the biomechanics of Wii gaming.”

This no doubt comes as bad news to anyone who thought that gaming alone would be the ticket to better fitness. So maybe its time to take the advice offered earlier this week from the University of Essex researchers, and use fitness games as a way to cross train instead.

Via The Boston Globe: Healthy games offer risks, too

Outdoor Workouts Have Benefits

Exercise outdoors does much more than just tone muscle and improve cardio. A recent study released by the University of Essex Department of Biological Sciences and published in Environmental Science & Technology shows an improvement in self-esteem and mood when participants conducted green exercise. The study classifies as activity in the presence of nature. This can be in a field or park, woods, or near water.

It’s summer. Get out of the gym and take to the outdoors. Go for a run, ride your bike, swim. In the summer I like to take advantage of yoga classes outdoors and feel a great lift with a particular class on the Hudson at sundown I don’t get from sweating it out indoors. Look up activities and outdoor classes at your local parks department Web site and see how you can improve your mood this summer.

Games For Health Gets its Conference On

Boston is hometown to many sports. Beantown is home to the Boston Marathon, Head of the Charles crew boat race and the annual college hockey tournament Bean Pot (hence the name Beantown). This week the city played host to the sixth annual Games for Health Conference. The conference is part of Games Beyond Entertainment. At the show there were demos of exergaming using the Nintendo Wii and other gaming systems, a study for a fitness-themed virtual world, and training for therapeutic disease management.

It looks like there were demos of a few music games such as Guitar Hero, and surprisingly the players (guitarists) sat down to play. Kinetic Shift encourages playing Guitar Hero, Rock Band and other games in the category. However we advocate playing them while standing. Most games on the Wii are difficult to play while comfortably seated by design, and that is true for virtual strumming of the guitar. We hope other game demos set better examples for active gaming.

Australian Football Players Train Under Big Brother

The heart rate monitor and GPS device is no longer personal for world football players. Australia’s World Cup players are picking up data via satellite for each player’s workout. Teams get competitive data on their own performance, and their competitors, according to “Socceroos go high-tech to gain an edge over rest of the world,” an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Players down under were able to compare their training to that of their Russian counterparts. Team coaches also use the data to provide support for their players. “We’re analyzing the players’ volumes of sweat and composition so we can accurately predict how much fluid they’ll lose during a game and at training,” Australia’s strength and conditioning coach Darren Burgess told the paper. “We want to have a rehydration strategy for each player.”

It will be interesting to see what other teams and leagues pick up this method of training. Will it lead to real-time data access to personal workouts instead of uploading details upon return from a run?