Basic Pursuits

Here are five things you can do to enhance the results of your workout. These techniques cost little or nothing, they are all perfectly legal and they are based on scientific observation.

Cool the muscles
Two Stanford scientists discovered that athletic performance dramatically increases if muscles cool faster. To capitalize on their idea, they invented a glove that takes advantage of the palm of the hand being a great radiator. Blood flow increases there as the body's temperature rises. Cool the blood in the palm and it spreads quickly around the body.

Since I can't afford the glove's $2000+ price tag, I settled for a standard cloth covered cold pack that I bought a a local drug store. I think it works.

High Intensity Interval Training
Building aerobic capacity may depend more on intensity than prolonged practice. In the 90s Japanese exercise physiologists Izumi Tabita showed that exercisers following a training routine of 20 seconds of hard work followed by 10 seconds of rest for just four minutes built up remarkable aerobic and anaerobic capacities.

That's high intensity interval training: a burst of effort followed by rest repeated several times.

In Tabata's study, his high intensity interval exercisers were compared to exercisers that simply did aerobic exercise for an hour. The Tabata interval exercisers increased their aerobic capacity by 14%; the aerobic exercisers by 9%. The Tabata interval exercisers increased their anaerobic capacity by 28%; the aerobic exercisers had no increase in anaerobic capacity. Anaerobic capacity is for exercise like sprinting when the body exhausts its oxigen reserves.

I did my own Tabata experiment. I found that in six weeks my fitness improved and I was easily able to transition back to distance running.

OTC Painkillers
Earlier in 2008 researchers gave a group of older weight trainers doses of ibuprofen (as in Advil), acetaminophen (as in Tylonol), and a placebo.

The pain-killer lifters had much bigger gains after 12 weeks. The muscles in the ibuprofen and acetominophen users got 40 to sixty percent bigger than the placebo group and their muscle strength was also higher.

Lots of Sleep
Body builders have long been advocates of lots of sleep. Now comes Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory, who reports that athletes who get extra sleep over an extended period of time improve performance.

"Athletes across all sports can greatly benefit from extra sleep and gain the additional competitive edge to perform at their highest level," said Mah

It's that recovery thing again. Extra sleep gives recovery a lot better than steroids.

I'm not sure how the Stanford researchers got the athletes to sleep for 10 hrs. 

Baking Soda
"Soda doping" can increase speed for racing athletes. A study at Loughborough University found that of nine swimmers who took baking soda before an even, eight reduced their times.

Baking soda seems to reduce or offset the effects of lactic acid, which builds up in the blood during intense anaerobic exercise like swimming or sprinting.

A teaspoon in a cup of cool water ain't champagne, but it's tolerable. It also produces a satisfying burp. 

Weight-lifter image by MDF
Cyclists image by Melvyn Petit