You’re athletic performance has gone down hill; you’re tired all of the time and common injuries keep reoccurring! Does this sound familiar? One possibility (not to rule out any possible medical problems) is training too hard or too often, better known as overtraining. Before going into a solution, let’s look at some indications of overtraining. The five most outstanding are: mental and physical fatigue, diminished physical strength, mild depression, reoccurring injuries and a weakened immune system. Overtraining can cause these symptoms, which could also be due to other ailments, so please see a qualified physician if the symptoms persist. How do we quantify overtraining? Read more…

It’s that time again for the almighty new years resolution and because a fitness
resolution ranks so highly in our society, it’s only appropriate to discuss what it takes.
Many of us have a goal in mind of where we would like to be as far as health and fitness
is concerned. A few of us have a plan to achieve this goal, but Read more…

I would like to change gears this month and revisit some important nutrition issues. Dietary fat always seems to be an issue for many people, so let’s talk about fat and some of its important functions in our bodies, specifically, hormones. I will try and cover the few benefits of a high fat diet versus the many benefits of a low to moderately low fat diet as they apply to hormone levels. The two hormones that will focus on Read more…

This seems like an old and tired subject, but I can’t stress enough the
importance of strength training for the general public and sport performance
training for the athlete. A well-conditioned body is better Read more…

Those of you interested in taking your cardiovascular training to another level and making it more efficient, read on. This method is not for everyone, but it is very effective for those of us with minimal time for exercising as well as on-ice athletes. It’s called interval training. It taxes the correct fuel systems in on-ice athletes (as well as many off-ice athletes) to make it a very effective training tool. There are several different ways to approach this methodology Read more…

I’m constantly being asked questions regarding proper amounts of carbohydrates (CHO) and protein. I’ve already discussed protein in a previous issue, so allow me to move on to CHO’s. There are several approaches to the regulation of CHO metabolism: one is the healthy way, one is the athletic way (CHO loading), and last is the less healthy Read more…

The word cholesterol has become a common buzzword in our current society. Before we disclose to our friends or coworkers the results of our recent cholesterol testing, let’s first take a closer look at this buzzword. As we well know, cholesterol is made up of HDL (high-density lipoprotein), LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and several other types of lipoproteins. Read more…

It recently occurred to me that many of the athletes are not working on their flexibility as frequently as they should. Flexibility is often an overlooked aspect of training for a sport, especially if it is not team oriented. Stretching is actually very important; primarily to decrease the risk of injury, but it also improves performance in the long run. When an individual stretches, Read more…