Sports Medicine

How Do You Beat Exercise Boredom?

If you exercise year-round you probably find yourself dealing with a lack of motivation at some point during the year. Some of the  Most Common Ways to Recharge a Stale Workout include: adding music, changing your routine, hiring a trainer, signing up for an event, etc...
These ideas work well for some, but not everyone. Do you have any great, novel ways to get your exercise mojo back?
What's your best, or most unique, tip for reviving a boring exercise routine?

How to Safely Use Free Weights

When it comes to exercise, everyone is getting back to basics and nothing is more basic than free weight workouts. But if you haven't gone through weight lifting 101, free weights can be, not only intimidating, but they can be dangerous. Check out the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for safely using free weights, and then read Paul Rodger's article about the Basics of Weight Training to learn everything you need to get the most from your weight workouts.

Undernourished Female Athletes Risk Serious Health Complications

When female athletes fail to consume adequate calories to fuel excessive or intense exercise, they not only suffer from decreased sports performance, but they risk serious health complications related to the female athlete triad.
The female athlete triad refers to three interrelated, serious conditions in female athletes including:

• Energy deficits and eating disorders
• Menstrual irregularities including amenorrhea
• Low bone density and increased risk of stress fractures and osteoporosis

The condition can arise slowly, or come on fast. And while many women feel compelled to intentionally decrease body fat due to pressures from society, the media and even family and friends, there are some athletes who struggle to eat enough to keep up with a heavy training schedule.
In either case, women who are engaged in extreme exercise and have inadequate nutrition practices risk severe health complications. Low energy reserves, nutrient deficiencies, fluid/electrolyte imbalance and dehydration can lead to a malnourished and starved athlete.  Resulting health problems may include an increased risk of fractures, frequent infections and illness, loss of reproductive function, heart arrhythmias and even sudden death.
If you recognize signs of the triad in yourself or another athlete, it's important to reach out for help quickly. Waiting or postponing treatment often makes the condition harder to treat. Early prevention and treatment programs can reestablish health and improve sorts performance. Learn more about the female athlete triad, and where to go for help.

Fitness Test: Push Ups

The Push up is more than a great upper body strength and endurance exercise. You can modify this basic training exercise and use it to track your fitness progress over time. The push up test also lets you compare your results to others of your age & gender.
Did you know?
While performing the standard push up, you are supporting nearly 75% of your total body weight. By using a modified push-up position (on your knees) you can reduce this to about 60% of your total body weight.
Either way, the push up is still a great overall exercise that you can do any where.