aerobic fitness
Get faster with 10-20-30 training
Want to knock 1 minute off your 5km PB? Or improve your VO2 max by 4 per cent? That’s what a group of experienced, non-elite runners achieved when they swapped their usual training for a new type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) devised at the University of Copenhagen. So I’ve been experimenting – and believe […]
Taking a HIT
You can read my article in yesterday’s Guardian here about high-intensity interval training (HIT) and the remarkable effects it has shown in not just healthy fit subjects but also overweight, sedentary and diabetic ones. Below is the advice I got from Professor Jamie Timmons regarding how to apply HIT in the ‘real world’ in two […]
That doggone dog is hampering my fitness!
One of my favourite exercise quotes comes from the exercise physiologist Per Astrand. He said ‘take your dog for a walk every day. Even if you don’t have one.’ I did just that last week when my fox terrier, Sid, wasn’t feeling well - and I couldn’t help noticing just how much faster I went. […]
The latest ‘exercise pill’
Quercetin. Heard of it? It’s the latest plant-derived compound or ‘phytochemical’ to have been identified, extracted and sold in bottles and jars in health-food shops. Quercetin is a naturally-occurring flavonoid with reputed health-boosting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This month’s edition of International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism even reports that quercetin can boost […]