Herbs have fantastic therapeutic benefits that support the athlete in all of us. Today, we’ll discuss how common herbs can help your workouts and your everyday health.
Take a look at the athletic benefits of these common herbs:
Trainers are in the business of creating fitness. They apply exercises to their clients in order to induce adaptations in structure and function that lead to improved fitness. In order to do this effectively, reliably and safely, working trainers must understand the structures they are stressing with exercise to produce the functional change that is fitness. This is the primary reason we learn anatomy and physiology. We need to understand the materials we work with in our occupation in order to accomplish the job we are expected to deliver.
Secondarily, there are communication reasons for learning structures and functions. Anatomy and physiology form a common language that connects the trainer, the therapist, the clinician and the client. We must learn our profession inside out to earn the respect and recognition due an expert.
Understanding how something is built will help you understand how it works. The biological and engineering adage “form equals function” is quite important in exercise and fitness. When we want to get better at an exercise we need to understand how the structure of the body contributes to its performance.
The best place to start in the study of what makes a human move is learning the bones and muscles that actually allow movement—in that order. The bones form a moveable scaffolding that allows the muscles attached to it to create gross (large scale) and fine (small scale) movement. Everything we do in the gym, at work, at play and in daily life is dependent on the ability of the muscles to move two or more bones through their ranges of motion.
SF State groups beat back pouring-rights contract worth millions.
On Nov. 19, a group of about 20 college students in San Francisco, California, managed to do what countless community leaders and health advocates have failed to do: beat Big Soda.
After a five-month campaign protesting San Francisco State University’s pursuit of a 10-year pouring-rights contract with The Coca-Cola Co. or PepsiCo Inc., the student-run SF State chapter of Real Food Challenge (RFC) convinced SF State President Leslie Wong to stop the contract process. Sixteen other student organizations, two grassroots community-health collaborations, several SF State faculty members, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and more than 10 percent of the student body assisted the RFC.
Commonplace since the 1990s, pouring-rights contracts grant corporations exclusive sales and marketing opportunities on school campuses in exchange for funds, the use of which is often restricted to purposes designed to funnel money back to the provider. The SF State deal was poised to bring in a one-time minimum contribution of US$2 million and annual contributions of at least $125,000, according to a May SF State request for proposals obtained by the CrossFit Journal.
Though Big Soda dollars promise relief in the face of budget deficits and a lack of government funding for higher education, critics argue that ubiquitous on-campus marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages does more harm than good. Added sugar has been shown to increase risk for diabetes, tooth decay, obesity and a host of other health problems.
“The most questionable aspect of these contracts is that they link returns to the companies and to the schools to amounts that students drink,” Marion Nestle wrote in “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health.”
The holidays are a time filled with sugar-filled parties and gifts. It’s easy to fall into sugar’s death grip and not even try to get out. Sugar does have a part to play in providing the athlete with energy. But it is critical to consume the right sources and not empty calories.
Welcome to our brand new weekend roundup, Three of the Best! Every Sunday, we'll post up Breaking Muscle's top three articles of the week. These pieces have caught your attention throughout the last seven days. So here they are in one place for you to consume, digest, and enjoy.
